Trends in the Innovation Ecosystem Can Past Successes Help Inform Future Strategies? Summary of Two Workshops (2013) / Chapter Skim
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4 The Roles of Universities
4 The Roles of Universities
Pages 17-24
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From page 17... ...
A university does not merely prepare young people for the wide variety of roles in an innovative economy; its higher mission is to "discover and invent the future." The technology transfer policies of universities may be in need of rigorous review and assessment. Universities might benefit from examining the rules governing the amount of time faculty can devote to outside activity.
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From page 18... ...
The university president sets one set of goals, licensing officers are evaluated on a different set of criteria, and state legislators mandate yet another set of objectives. Many participants pointed out that this reflects the fact that universities have multiple objectives that they want to achieve through technology licensing, including regional development, revenue generation, and recruiting and retaining faculty (for example, by supporting faculty spinoff companies)
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From page 19... ...
Some workshop participants made the case that technology licensing offices can be counterproductive if they cause negotiations to be so complex that agreements are scuttled. They also pointed to the negative consequences of a belief widespread among state legislators that licensing offices could produce abundant resources for universities, which then could displace government funding.
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From page 20... ...
For example, the biotechnology sector requires expensive access to laboratories, equipment, and staff, while the information technology sector may require much smaller investments. Hennessy described one approach Stanford has pursued to support student-driven innovations for three to six months to see if they can be developed to the point where they would attract commercial interest or the interest of a venture capital firm or angel investor.
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From page 21... ...
"It's certainly a technical success and has impacted society, but it hasn't made that much money." Luxtera, which is a pioneering company in silicon photonics, originated when a venture capitalist came to Yablonovitch and expressed interest in starting a photonics company. Though Yablonovitch was worried that the technology was not yet developed enough for commercialization, he started the company and began developing a silicon chip that included optical components as well as semiconductor components.
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From page 22... ...
As a result, in the future innovators may need to go to Asia to secure investment funds, just as they once came to the venture capitalists clustered around Stanford to seek funding. And will the federal government continue to invest money in research if the companies based on that research end up going offshore, Yablonovitch asked.
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From page 23... ...
An evaluation based on patents obtained, for example, would certainty generate more patenting, but "patenting is not necessarily a way of either supporting technology transfer or of reducing the operating expenses of a technology transfer office." Many faculty members would not be good industrial managers. In fact, access to outside managerial talent is an important contribution that venture capitalists bring to the interface.
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