Sir

The British government's desire to put “the commercialization of scientific knowledge at the heart of its industrial policy” is timely (Nature 396, 714-715; 1998). The ideal is a seamless integration between public and privately funded research with scientists having interests in both sectors.

However, what constitutes knowledge generated from academic, publicly funded research? Knowledge is any privileged information which can generate or add value to intellectual property and, when exploited, can be sold for profit. A conversation over coffee or a discussion at a poster cannot be valued but nevertheless is the transfer of knowledge. So is the perusal of grant applications and papers submitted for publication. At present the exploitation of this knowledge is unregulated.

Without safeguards and procedures to ensure that knowledge, however defined, is properly valued, funding agencies will lose rewards to which they should be entitled.