PerspectivesAre you interested in submitting a Perspective Article? Be sure to read The Science Advisory Board's Editorial Guides for Perspective Articles. Click here. Technology Licensing -- The European Way by Arseni Markoff, Ph.D. Following the recent SAB discussion on technology licensing, I was telling myself, "Well, they mean it quite seriously in the USA, don't they? What are we doing here in Europe in this regard? Is the US experience applicable to our own situation at universities, for example, in Germany?" To quote Jessy John Alexander, a Science Advisory Board Steering Committee Member, "Once an open collaboration is begun between companies and universities, there will be a faster flow of information that will result in increased innovation." No doubt about it and the mutual benefits that arise from such collaboration are more than obvious for both involved sides. Of course, as some of the SAB members mentioned in the Discussion Forum, this can also take ugly dimensions in cases where only the private [circle] profit is the leading interest and all consequences and side effects in terms of discovery implementation are disregarded or not really taken care of. In developed European societies, where people project a high degree of civil conscience and dignity, science is generally regarded as a high priority task. The expenditures for scientific activities amount to about 500 Euro per capita in countries like Germany. On the other hand this is not so much in comparison with the US government science budget. There is the apparent paradox of regarding science and scientists with the due social respect but on the other hand this is not measured in any material benefit. Whilst coloquials like "nerd" and "geek" are not a part of the everyday language (these words simply have no equivalent in German), scientists in academia are working mainly on limited time contracts. It is generally very difficult to get a tenure track position due to the existing legislative policy for universities as part of the public domain. Not so in France - once in academia, the privilege is granted for life. Independent of the legislative constraints and university regulations for scientists, or just because of them, there is a strong division in Europe between academic and industrial science. Licensing of a technology is theoretically possible, but one has to forget (or almost neglect) working in a university if this is the desired result. Offered are opportunities, generally sponsored by governmental regulations and directed towards small-scale start-ups and joint venture projects. Consequently, the scientist is forced to leave academia for the wide-open world and start to develop his/her own private company. Technology transfer offices (TTO) are a foreign and unknown word for most European universities. They simply do not exist in Germany. If something has to be licensed from an academic scientist, the responsible office is to be found centrally located for all universities of the state (Bundesland). The licensing procedure should not be so bureaucratically burdened, that the exemplified scientist would prefer in almost 99.9% of the cases to open their own company, as a joint venture or alone, with all risks and pitfalls behind such undertaking. On the other hand, there is a common European legislation to regulate work with genetically modified organisms (GMO) for example, but no word on (technology) licensing. In other words, scientists in academia are "givers", and who is the taker is very obvious to my opinion. Corporations and big pharmaceutical companies for example input almost nothing into university research in Europe, but they gladly hire the skilled scientists and many of them are offered permanent jobs. Is this the correct attitude for both university and industry science? I just cannot answer this question with a simple yes or no. There has to be change in Europe for technology licensing to become a part of universities' life, but this change should be a legislative one. For the developing European Union this will be a task of equating and uniting first on legislative policies for universities and their researchers, and then perhaps really considering what forms an open collaboration between industry and academia can take. Quoting the American writer and philospher, Robert M. Pirsig, "University is a state of mind." Is industry only the state of money? ### Arseni Markoff, Ph.D. Institute of Medical Biochemistry Center for Molecular Biology of Inflammation, University Clinics Muenster Germany ### << Previous Next >> [ View All Perspectives ] |
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