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Published online 10 December 2008 | Nature 456, 685-686 (2008) | doi:10.1038/456685a
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Patent pledge to Indian universities
Critics worry that push for technology transfer is moving too fast.
India's parliament will soon be scrutinizing a bill intended to help publicly funded institutes and universities commercialize their research. India's science minister, Kapil Sibal, is confident that the bill will become law and will help Indian universities "make millions through patents".
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I would caution against any bill that promises to "make millions through patents". Most of the intellectual properties generated by the university are at the very early stages and years away from realizing its full potential. There is a fundamental difference between passing a bill such as Bayh-Dole to more easily transfer IP from the university to the public sectors to spur innovation and economic growth and using such a bill as a revenue source for public universities. It is unlikely for any public university to exist without the support of public funds. I am weary that such a bill will cause pressure for university to be a self-supporting institution and a reason for decrease financial support.
The bill can help many cash starved universities generate revenue. I think it is a good move in the current times, though the concern is lack of enough basic science. Despite Indian economy making many strides over the last decade, contribution of Indian science has not increased at that pace. Many new Indian universities and research institutions have been opened and a lot of money has been thrown at research, but the recruitment of scientists has minimal, if any quality control. It is already turning out to be a boom and bust model of promoting science. So my concern is despite the bill, we are not going to see overnight miracles and there might be a migration away from failing basic science infrastructure in the country. It can turn out to be a good move, if implemented holistically. The measures should include stricter tenure process, open review system of funding, implementing real laws dealing with conflict of interests. In fact I would suggest the "cut" of institutions should be lower and researcher should have more incentive than 30%.