A model for academic-industry cooperation

Collaborations among universities and businesses are crucial not only to making new discoveries but also to ensuring that breakthroughs in science and technology find their way to the people who need them. Academics have a history of either giving away too much of their intellectual property to corporate partners or of making it too difficult for companies to license the technology. The solution is to find a middle ground.

James Weyhenmeyer, Senior Vice Provost for Research with the State University of New York (SUNY) shows the way. He sites an example of a deal signed in 2007 for the University of California Berkeley, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to work with energy producer BP on a US $500 million research program to explore how bioscience can be used to increase energy production and reduce the impact of energy consumption on the environment. The following are the highlights:

(a) The intellectual property consisted of a "yours, mine and ours" model, which meant each party retained the rights to all of the work done at their campus facilities but had to share ownership of projects developed at joint sites (BP set up labs on both campuses)

(b) It included a clause that gave the energy company a royalty-free, nonexclusive license to commercialize the results of the collaboration

(c) BP could buy exclusive rights by paying the other two parties US $100,000 per year per invention.

(d) In the event this group developed a blockbuster technology, Lawrence Berkeley and the universities could renegotiate with BP for a bigger piece of the pie.

This deal can become a model for others to follow

Ref: When universities and businesses collaborate, it's "yours, mine and ours" by Larry Greenemeier, Scientific American Observations, Dec 8, 2009

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Stanford University to Create Green Energy Research Institute

Stanford University to Create Green Energy Research Institute: The Stanford University is establishing a research institute to focus on energy issues and work toward development of more affordable and efficient ways to capture the power of the sun and store, deliver and use energy, in addition to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The proposed investment is US $100 million The University President John Hennessy announced the launch of the Precourt Institute of Energy. The three lead donors whose contributions are financing the creation of the institute are Stanford alumni. Energy executive, Jay Precourt, the namesake of the new institute, donated US $50 million and the University trustee and managing partner of Farallon Capital Management, Thomas Steyer and spouse Kat Taylor gave US $40 million. The balance was contributed by Douglas Kimmelman, senior partner of Energy Capital Partners, Michael Ruffatto, president of North American Power Group Ltd. and the Schmidt Family Foundation. The institute will work on the university's Global Climate and Energy Project. Lynn Orr has been named the director of the new institute. A professor in energy resources engineering, he previously was director of Stanford's Global Climate and Energy Project. Source: GreenBiz.com, 14 January 2009

Youth must lead science and technology

Youth must lead science and technology Former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam's address at the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Hamirpur Former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam today called upon the youth to work towards building a creative leadership in different disciplines and achieving new goals for the country. Delivering his convocation address at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Hamirpur, Dr Kalam said the time has come for a drastic change in the traditional roles from a commander to coach. He also highlighted issues of infrastructure development, energy generation and the need of safe drinking water for the masses in the country. Kalam asked the educational institute to focus on emerging as a technical human resource provider for the state. The NIT, he recommended, should adopt all local 20 senior secondary schools for quality education and also create a 'energy independence plan' for the district through micro-hydel plants, solar energy systems, bio-mass plants and wind power, besides dense afforestation to make it fossil fuel free. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, who also spoke on the occasion, asked the engineering fraternity to respect the environmental requirements and come forward to help find quality alternatives for development of the country. Source: Indian Express, Jan 4, 2009

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