The higher education market is facing increasing global competition. Earlier this year John Denham, the universities secretary, announced his aim to build, in conjunction with UK universities, a 10 to 15 year framework for the expansion of the sector. This will include a review of intellectual property. “One area that does attract debate is the way in which universities should be expected to use the intellectual property they develop for their own and the broader good..there is a complicated relationship between investment; output in terms of papers, patents, and products; and economic benefit. And there is the critical role of local enterprise or international business in translating innovative research into world-beating products and services,” he said.
Commenting on the review at a Labour party conference fringe meeting last month, Ian Pearson, Science Minister, said, “Some universities are more commercially savvy than others. Very often the person behind the invention is not the best one to commercially exploit it ... There are a number of different models for getting around that, but it is a complex picture. My key message is that there is a lot more we can do to support university-business interaction."
The review into the methods by which universities exploit intellectual property developed by their academics, which is currently being undertaken by Professor Paul Wellings, Vice Chancellor of Lancaster University, is due to report imminently. Professor Wellings will present and discuss key aspects of this important research at the Unico Conference to be held on Wednesday, 19th November 2008 in Hall 9 at the ICC, Broad Street, Birmingham.
October 2008
