When you reach a fork in the road, take it: science and product development as linked paths

There is a simple underlying message in this discussion, which has three parts. First, science has the capacity to generate new knowledge and harness that knowledge in the cause of developing products and technology that can reduce disease burdens among developing nation populations. Second, intellectual property is a tool to use in order to insure that new knowledge is not expropriated and exploited in a manner that threatens the ability to provide products and technology to poor people at an affordable price. Third, and finally, academic scientists need to understand that they can stride both pathways of the R&D road, remaining involved in generating basic knowledge while participating in the application of that knowledge towards product development and, through the use of best practice IP management, making it available in resource-poor environments. In order for this to happen, academia needs to maintain bridges to the private sector, while assiduously avoiding financial conflicts of interest, a topic not discussed in this paper. Academic scientists, whether already established or still completing their education, need access to training modules that allows them to define the challenges of the high disease burdens in the third world in human, and not just in consumption or dollar, terms. They also need education regarding the problems they work on, in order to engage them in the technology transfer from academia to the private sector; promote collaboration with scientists in the developing world; provide them with enough insights into the process and how it operates so that they know about the terms of any agreements with the private sector that would prevent poor people from accessing the ultimate product; and finally "reward" them in the academic system by advancement based on applied and field-based international translational and operational applied research. If these education programs develop and expand to increasing numbers of people in the research sector of academia, the number of people taking both paths described here will substantially increase. With that, the amount of research relevant to improving the health status--and indirectly, development--of developing countries will have been substantially increased.     

环保专利共享法律制度研究

环保专利共享计划是气候变化相关技术转让机制的重要组成部分,它从私人公司的角度出发为气候变化相关技术转让的问题提出了新的视角,利用环保技术的特性建立起私人自愿捐赠机制,在促进技术创新的同时实现有效的技术转让。国际环境条约为环保专利共享计划提供了法律依据,环保技术与软件的相似性为环保专利共享计划提供了可行性基础,专利和契约等相关法律制度的完善为环保专利共享计划的运行提供了法律保障。     

ARPA-E and DARPA: Applying the DARPA model to energy innovation

ARPA-E offers a new innovation institutional model to meet energy technology challenges. Because it is explicitly based on DARPA, this article reviews the noted DARPA approach in detail. Briefly citing well-known features of DARPA, it explores a number of important features that have not been well discussed in the policy literature on DARPA. These include DARPA??s ability to undertake multigenerational technology thrusts, the synergies it has been able to create through complementary strategic technologies, its ability to build an advocate community, and connections it has built to larger innovation elements downstream from DARPA. It has also taken on incumbent technologies within both DOD and in the private sector, used ties to DOD leadership to press its advances, and supported initial market creation. The article then reviews the new ARPA-E model in detail, commenting first on how ARPA-E has adopted key DARPA approaches. It then discusses new features ARPA-E is adopting, driven by the unique demands of the complex, established energy sector. These include new ways: (1) to sharpen the research visioning, selection and support processes, (2) to build a community of support, important to its political survival, and (3) to implement technologies it supports. In addition, the further DARPA features enumerated above provide potentially useful future guideposts to ARPA-E. The paper closes with a discussion of the difficult technology implementation problems on the ??back end?? of the innovation system??including demonstrations, test beds, and initial markets. The article posits that both agencies must further address these implementation issues by fostering additional downstream partnerships, including between government and private sector.     

Government procurement law and hacking technology: The role of public contracting in regulating an invisible market

This article considers the purchasing of hacking technology by governments and the role of government procurement processes in regulating the hacking market and reducing risks to the buyer. While the proliferation of hacking technology for government actors has led to various proposed solutions for accountability, little consideration has been given to public purchasing of this technology. This article explores whether public contracting processes could be used to help minimize the risks that arise from the use of government hacking technology, and, if so, the types of contractual clauses and institutional supports that might be useful to achieve that goal. In exploring this issue, this article considers theories of government by contract and the publicization of the private sector. These theories posit that public contracting can be used as a vehicle to impose public considerations—for example, certain policy goals—on the private sector. It argues that requirements of transparency and accountability that inhere on the public sector could be transferred in part to the private sector through the vehicle of a public contract and explores how public contracts for government hacking technology could be structured in order to reduce risks posed by the use of this technology.     

Ready to leave the ivory tower?: Academic scientists’ appeal to work in the private sector

This study investigates the factors that shape the attitudes of scientists toward starting their own business or working in a private sector firm. The analysis is based on data collected from scientists working in the German Max Planck Society, a research institution devoted to basic science. We find that the scientists’ attractiveness of working in a private sector firm or of starting their own business differ considerably according to their academic discipline and the self-reported commercial potential of their research. The ability to take risks, prior work experience in private firms, and personal experience in cooperating with industry lead to a positive attitude towards switching to private sector employment or entrepreneurship. Strong willingness to freely distribute research findings is related to a low appeal of private sector work.     

Maintaining the high-tech edge: Governmentindustry technology transfer and the federal laboratory system in California

One of the important resources to any state, such as California, is the technology that is available from the many federally operated and/or funded laboratories within its borders. In this age of technology a state needs to take advantage of applications of modern technology and innovative exploitation of human and natural resources. This article illuminates the importance of the Federal Government research laboratories. Many examples are presented to support the argument that the Federal Government research laboratories can be and often are substantial contributors to the storehouse of technology that finds its way to the private sector and public sector. Several types of technology transfer are discussed, i.e. primary technology, secondary applications, mission related, technical assistance and cooperative. In addition the article discusses the structure and logic of the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC). The legislaltion that has helped to make the FLC effective is discussed. Included in the discussion are insights of how the FLC operates and how the private sector and public sector may use the FLC in order to locate process, product and service technology.     

First amendment values and government participation in the marketplace,fifty years after the Hutchins report

The Hutchins Commission took a favorable view of government speech; Its report recommended that government act as a supplementary news source for the public. This article asserts that the commission was “fighting the last war” by focusing on government restraints on the press, while failing to propose limitations on the government's ability to circumvent the press. With the advent of new forms of telecommunications technology, the government might one day replace the private sector press as the public's primary source for news. This article asserts that the Supreme Court should recognize that the Press Clause of the First Amendment guarantees the existence of the private sector press as an independent, nongovernmental branch of our governance system. Based on a “separation of powers” view of Press Clause values, the article argues that the Court should create a First Amendment “right of reply” to any government dissemination of information to the American public in a manner that circumvents the traditional role of the private sector press.     

A technology network for economic development

A technology delivery system designed to provide small and medium-sized businesses with improved access to technological resources for enhancing their productivity and competitiveness has been tested under controlled conditions in the southeastern United States. The demonstration project involved federal research laboratories, state universities, National Information Service and Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and technology users in the private sector. The results of the 18 month project are reported and assessed to identify the conditions for the establishment of a national technology network for small and medium sized firms.     

Financial losses due to financial derivatives: A problem of technology transfer

Financial derivatives represent a new technology for the financial services sector. Large and widely publicized financial losses by end users of financial derivatives (e.g., Barings Bank, Procter and Gamble) may be attributed to two major problems in transferring this technology from derivatives dealers to derivatives users: (1) valuation of derivatives; and (2) control systems to manage this new financial technology. Some effective solutions to these problems are being developed by private standard setting organizations and private firms; these solutions can be viewed in terms of non-product standardization and product standardization, respectively. The effectiveness of these solutions in facilitating technology transfer comes from involvement of all stakeholders (e.g., dealers; users; private standard setters; government regulators). The authors with to thank Dr. Francis W. Wolek, Professor of Management at Villanova University, for reading an earlier draft of this paper. The authors are also grateful to Dr. Albert Link and the anonymous reviewers for thier helpful comments.     

Social and economic impact of the commercialization of the Argus II artificial retina in the United States

Each year, the United States invests about $45 billion in research conducted by federal researchers within federal laboratories. These efforts generate extensive social benefits when results are transferred to the private sector. It is important that we effectively quantify the economic and societal impact of federal technology transfer activities to inform taxpayers and policymakers about the value of public investments in this form of research. The Argus II device, an artificial retina commercialized in the United States by Second Sight in 2013, provides a rich example of how private sector innovation can be enhanced by research collaborations with federal labs and academia. Over the 25-year journey from idea to product, Second Sight carried out research and development collaborations with six Department of Energy national laboratories and seven universities. The case of Argus II also offers valuable insight into (1) how private industry, academia, and government can work together to bring socially beneficial innovations to fruition and (2) the tradeoffs inherent in these public–private collaborations. In this paper, we use a Markov model to estimate the realized and potential future social benefits associated with Argus II. We provide an interactive tool that can be used to replicate our findings and modify assumptions using updated patient information as it becomes available. We also provide insight into the aspects of federal involvement surrounding the development of Argus II that contributed to its successful commercialization and discuss other spillover benefits from these public–private collaborations.     

Privatizing Environmental Resources: The Need for Supervision of Clean Development Mechanism Contracts?

This article argues that a current trend in global sustainable development governance is actively to engage the private sector in participating in the process of implementing global and national policy goals. This trend is based on the notion that the private sector has the ideas, technologies and resources at its disposal that can be channelled to addressing global environmental challenges. This new trend does not, however, take into account the past and present implications of private sector investment in fields such as mining and forestry. Nor does it closely examine how private sector rules will subsequently infiltrate and govern environmental management. On the basis of an examination of current policy developments and contracts in the area of environmental management and their implications for developing countries, this article argues in favour of establishing an authority that oversees the legitimacy and legality of these new contracts, especially in, but not limited to, the area of climate change.     

WHORING AROUND: Some Comments on Deviance Research in the Private Sector

The trends are explored through which criminologists and other social scientists are being pushed out of academia and finding their way into the private sector, especially in the area of “deviance research.” In this research area, within the private sector, the work of thecontract researcher is discussed. The relationship between contract researcher and client is compared to that of prostitute and john, one in which many hopes and expectations are created, but where the encounter satisfies neither. The organization of private, contract research is considered and concern for the uses of these studies is raised.     

Privacy and research involving humans

Human research ethics committees in Australia are required to consider compliance with privacy law as an element of the ethics of research. Recent legislation has introduced federal private sector privacy protection, as well as privacy protection at State and Territory levels. In Victoria, which is used as an example in this article, State privacy legislation covers public sector information and health records. This article considers the implications for research involving human participants and for ethics committees of the new privacy regimes. Although privacy law is a potential barrier to research about humans, the need for exceptions has been dealt with effectively in the context of medical or health research. However, privacy law and its chilling effect could potentially be a serious impediment to some forms of non-health-related research, such as social and socio-legal research.     

Transferring Public Research: The Patent Licensing Mechanism in Agriculture

Technology transfer policies can bring public R&D to potential users, reduce burdens on public resources, and influence technology development. Patent licensing offers transparency, potentially higher research returns, and possible increased adoption of socially desirable technologies. However, it limits access to research results, and raises concerns that public institutions will alter their agendas. A review of the US Department of Agriculture's patent and licensing program addresses the types of technologies disseminated, social benefits associated with them, institutions licensing technologies, the importance of exclusivity, and whether research priorities have become oriented to private interests. Results suggest that USDA's patent licensing is not revenue driven, and its research agenda has not changed in response to the program. Licenses vary with respect to four important social benefits. Licensing program priorities are closer to those of the private sector than the USDA's research program. Partial or limited exclusivity may be sufficient to attract technology developers.     

Electronic commerce and user-based design of a web site: Targeting the technology transfer audience

Web sites have the potential of playing a major role in the exchange of technology related information between federal laboratories and commercializers in the private sector. Most, if not all, Web site designs are developed based on the organization's perception of what the target audience wants from a Web site. This contribution addresses the issue of successful Web site design from the user's perspective in the context of technology transfer. The orientation takes into account important concepts and principles such as cost, marketing, diffusion, information retrieval, and strategic networking. The results of a survey of private sector technology transfer professionals offer insights to meet the target audience's needs, thus making a Web site a timely and cost-effective electronic linkage for interaction, information-seeking, and networking functions that enable technology transfer. This work was funded by United States Air Force contract number F30602-95-C-0240.     

Sector Well-Being Differences Among UK Police Custody Staff

The research explores a new model of staff well-being across UK police custodial services (public and private). These services are unique for the fact that police sergeant custody officers are supported by detention officers who can be publicly or privately contracted, with the latter providing a heterogeneous mix never previously researched. The model informs a survey approach conducted across four English police forces. Drawing on a diverse literature which compares health and criminal justice professions, this study explores the possibility that private sector detention officers will report lower levels of emotional exhaustion and workplace stress and higher levels of personal accomplishment than their public sector counterparts. Multilevel analyses, supplemented by ANOVA and t tests, detected statistically significant differences for private sector detention officers regarding higher levels of emotional exhaustion and lower levels of personal accomplishment and workplace stress (with the stress result the only one in the predicted direction). However, results should be interpreted as sample specific linked to privately contracted detention officer disquiet with their then employer (since replaced). That said, the results provide a good exploration of the model’s utility together with important lessons for model and survey development in the future.     

Creating Entrepreneurial Universities in the UK: Applying Entrepreneurship Theory to Practice

In the modern knowledge economy higher educational institutions are being required to operate more entrepreneurially, commercialising the results of their research and spinning out new, knowledge-based enterprises. Like most large organisations, particularly those operating in the public sector, they are not traditionally suited to this role and often face the same sort of barriers to intrapreneurial activity as their counterparts in the private sector. In this note, the theories of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship development are used to identify what needs to be done and a case example is provided.     

Measuring the Economic Impact of University-Based Research

University research has propelled the United States into world-class leadership, but continuing that momentum in the 21st century requires major funding. Both the public and private sector have risen to meet that financial challenge through increased support of university-based research. Since 1995, New York Governor George E. Pataki and the New York Legislature have fostered the growth of high technology and biotechnology industries by investing more than $1 billion in superlative research laboratories and academic centers. However, with this increased outlay comes the demand for greater accountability. Both public and private stakeholders expect applied research to have economic impact through a unique combination of good science plus good business producing wealth and opportunity for all citizens. However, measuring the economic impact of university research proves difficult. This paper suggests a possible method for a public funding agency to quantify and tabulate research outputs such that economic impacts are reported as a percent return on investment or ROI. With this model, multiple stakeholders can evaluate divergent research technologies using a measurement that is familiar to scientists, business leaders, elected officials, and the public.     

公务员创新行为:文献述评与研究展望

创新行为俨然成为公务员适应新时代高素质干部队伍建设要求的典型行为模式,以及公共部门适应职能转变和服务再造要求的内生动力。本研究基于对已有研究的系统梳理与深入分析,构建了一个系统的公务员创新行为研究框架。本研究从公私部门成员创新行为差异及争议切入,围绕公务员创新行为的概念内涵、多层次影响因素及复杂作用机制进行系统回顾并展开评述,呈现新制度主义理论、自我决定理论等在公务员创新行为塑造中的深层逻辑。在此基础上,本研究展望未来方向:(1)以回应跨国文化背景、科层制组织特征、现实工作场景实现公务员创新的情境化研究;(2)在新时代中国场景中实现公务员创新行为的量表开发、跨层次系统性形成机理探索;(3)拓展公务员创新行为的效能机制研究,实现微观层面行为创新与中观层面组织创新、宏观层面政策创新的呼应衔接。