September 22, 2006

Between Lab Bench and Marketplace: the Pitfalls of Technology Transfer

By JOSHUA B. POWERS

Alan Greenspan coined the term "irrational exuberance" in 1996, when he was chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, to describe the attitudes of investors at the time. But the term is just as applicable to the current state of affairs in university technology transfer, the process by which academic inventions get commercialized.

Eager for new sources of revenue, and salivating over the promise of biotechnology in particular, universities are doing their utmost to move what is on the lab

Digital or Print Subscription

Web Pass

Already have an account? Log In Now.