Engagement through Technology Transfer
The University of Minnesota is pleased with the results of a recent study by the Milken Institute, "Mind to Market: A Global Analysis of University Biotechnology Transfer and Commercialization", which showed that the U ranks sixth among North American universities in its success in "turn[ing] knowledge into commercially viable products and companies."
Many in academia worry that emphasis on commercialization of university discoveries distorts our fundamental mission, but I disagree. I feel that technology transfer is an important aspect of public engagement by higher education institutions. Some reasons:
* A university serves many publics, and the commercial sector is one of them. This was clear (though not always articulated) when land grant universities did research, teaching, and extension mainly for the agricultural sector. Now that other economic sectors rival and exceed agriculture, it should be no less clear.
* High-tech companies confront many interesting and significant scientific and engineering problems, which can provide real world experience to faculty and students through consultantships and internships.
* Industrial scientists have expertise that usually complements that of university scientists. They can be good partners, a key component of public engagement.
* Although it can be overstated, research universities _are_ among the most important "economic engines" of their states. Job creation and generation of tax revenues to support public purposes contribute to civic well-being.
* University inventions in biomedicine and biotechnology can, if carried to fruition, make major contributions to public health and welfare.
* Revenues from commercialization of technology feed back to the broader university community. In the most prominent case at the University of Minnesota, returns from an anti-HIV drug have been used for a graduate fellowship matching program, open to all fields, that has thus far generated an endowment of more than $100 million.
Of course, care must be taken that the drive to commercialize university discoveries does not distort other priorities. So far, there is very little evidence that it has.