Universities: Get Entrepreneurial

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But they are usually more concerned about disseminating knowledge and publishing academic papers than creating patents that limit how this knowledge can be used. They worry about the conflicts of interest that can arise when taking money from industry and want to ensure that their teaching activities aren't impacted by the time spent on commercialization efforts.

Another problem is that most university technology is half-baked. As entrepreneurs know, it takes a lot to create market-ready products (see BusinessWeek.com, 5/4/06, "Countdown to Product Launch (Part I)"). University faculty simply don't have the budgets to take products this far.

Tony Stanco, a professor at George Washington University and executive director of the National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer, believes government and industry should create funding models for university researchers to create complete products, including the formation of university-affiliated angel investor groups. He believes that this will enable universities to become viable centers for research and design.

Putting It Into Practice

Indeed, there are already some experiments under way that are trying new approaches at bringing academics and industry together.

Sycamore Networks (SCMR) Chairman Gururaj Deshpande invested $20 million to help create a center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that connects university researchers with experienced entrepreneurs who can provide mentoring and guidance, funding to test concepts, education in technology commercialization, and help with marketing the research to potential partners (see BusinessWeek.com, 1/18/07, "Keeping Research Leadership at Home").

The University of California-San Diego is trying a similar experiment with its William J. von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement. In addition to providing seed financing and marketing assistance, it provides researchers a series of advisory services to analyze the potential of their discoveries, patent inventions, and create first-rate business models and business plans (see BusinessWeek.com, 3/29/07, "USC's New Institute for Innovation").

It is time to take stock of the lessons learned and improve our university research commercialization system. With the rapid pace of globalization, U.S. competitiveness is under threat. Turning university research into viable startups is a sustainable means of defense.

Vivek Wadhwa, a former tech entrepreneur, is the Wertheim Fellow at the Harvard Law School and an executive-in-residence at Duke University. He writes a column on policy issues affecting entrepreneurs every month.