Lost in translation?

The question of what role, if any, university-based scientific research should play in economic development has been debated at length, long before the passing of the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980. Given the current economic challenges and funding shortages faced by most institutions, and having been the recipient of extensive state and federal support, universities are under increased pressure to maximize their economic contributions to society.

In their new book, Tapping the Riches of Science: Universities and the Promise of Economic Growth authors Roger Geiger and Creso Sà present a comprehensive and balanced overview of this issue. They convincingly demonstrate that universities should have a "fourth mission" -- beyond the traditional three missions of teaching, research, and outreach -- which is to create economic relevance for the communities they serve.

Richly supported by the extensive use of case studies, interviews, and other prior writings on this topic, Geiger and Sà present a convincing and compelling case that in fact, "Research universities must not only generate inventions, but also take steps to ensure that the invention will be transferred to and developed into innovations in the private sector."

This conclusion is not presented, however, as an abstract and prescriptive academic thesis. Rather, the authors realistically acknowledge the distinctions between the academic and business worlds and understand that there are significant challenges in developing any technology into a commercially viable application.

The book is composed of six chapters which focus on the different aspects of this "fourth mission." The first describes the overall role that universities have historically played in economic development. The authors discuss the emergence of complex but essential interactions with the federal agencies, state governments, private industry, philanthropists and funding sources that have shaped technology transfer in the past, and note that these evolving interactions will drive innovation going forward.

The next chapter highlights the dual role that universities have for not only patenting, licensing and starting companies, but also for developing and expanding privately funded research programs. It encourages universities to take a long-term view of their relationships with industry and to carefully examine the overall costs and benefits associated with negotiating intellectual property rights, particularly given the increasing dependence on external funding sources such as sponsored research, grants and gifts.

Chapter three focuses on the policies required, both at the federal and state levels, to encourage technology-based economic development and provides numerous examples of different states' approaches to encourage this phenomenon. The process of patenting and licensing universities' technologies is described in chapter four complete with examples from technology transfer offices at MIT and Stanford, which are widely acknowledged as leaders in this field, as well as emerging programs at the University of Southern California and Caltech. In addition, this section describes the key success factors within academia and industry that are necessary for successful commercialization of university-based technologies. These factors include appropriately valuing intellectual property and by focusing on long-term financial returns instead of trying to maximize the licensing revenues from each piece of IP that arises from industry/academia collaborations, establishing specialized centers or institutes (e.g. BioDesign at Stanford, the Deshpande Center at MIT, and the Stevens Institute at USC) to help universities commercialize innovations and to train scientists in entrepreneurial skills, and recognizing that industry and academia have "heterogeneous interests" (i.e. maximum revenue generation by universities versus industries desire to get new IP at the lowest possible cost).

Chapter five discusses the incentives for universities to embrace economic relevance not merely for the commercialization of technologies but also as a means to support and advance the "academic core." Geiger and Sà highlight a number of institutions that are trying different approaches to develop long term, mutually beneficial relationships with industry.

The final section deals directly with the symbiosis between universities and overall economic growth. Here again, the authors draw on a variety of examples including the efforts by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies and Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute to both attract industry savvy faculty and to develop the appropriate facilities (with the help of state, academic and private funding) to help transform academic research into commercializable products. These examples and others show how this relationship is essential for both universities and the private sector and how policies, programs and organizational structures must be adapted to encourage and support the timely and efficient transfer of technology from academia to the marketplace.

While it does not offer any one solution, Geiger and Sà's well-researched, interesting, and thought provoking work does help dispel existing negative preconceptions of technology transfer, and provides insight into several potentially successful strategies for technology transfer efforts which may help universities achieve their fourth mission by making more substantial contributions to economic development in the future.

In short, Tapping the Riches of Science is a must-read for anyone interested in technology transfer, university-industry partnerships, academic spin outs, or economic development and should serve as an essential primer on this subject.

Tapping the Riches of Science: Universities and the Promise of Economic Growth, by Roger L. Geiger and Creso M. Sà, Harvard University Press, 2008. 251 pp. ISBN: 978-0-674-03128-9. $39.95.

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Translational Disconnect
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The Key to Translation
[30th September 2002]

Bill Fair was formerly the managing director of Healthcare and Bioscience for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Economic Development Corporation where he was instrumental in creating the 1.1 million square foot East River Science Park in NYC. Fair, now an independent consultant, works with early stage companies, university technology transfer offices and venture capitalists to help transform promising scientific research into viable life science and technology companies. He also serves as an adviser to the New York Bioscience Initiative and is a member of the editorial board of The Scientist.