3 ms·

University of Glasgow gives away software, patents, consulting

23 points by fogus 16y ago

arethuza 16y ago
I've always been rather surprised as to why all UK universities don't give free access to all of their IP produced through taxpayer funded research to all and any UK taxpayers. Even better, do the research publish the results in the appropriate forums and let anyone anywhere do what they want with it. Of course, if the research is paid for privately then that's completely different. But for publicly funded research - make it public.
fanf2 16y ago
It would be better if they didn't waste money patenting it in the first place!
- arethuza 16y ago
  It's Scotland and it's the public sector - I don't think anyone worries too much about "wasting money" unless its for actual services that people care about. If you want a laugh/cry consider the ITIs: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2002/12/2753 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2002/12/2753 £450 million for research is a lot of money in country of about 6 million - they have been going for a long time now and what earth shattering innovations have we had?
- alex_stoddard 16y ago
  I am not so sure, at least for properly tangible patents. There are considerable risks and costs to developing a technology from a demonstration in a university department to something marketable. If companies especially of small to medium size, or their investors, don't have patent protection they may consider the investment not worth the risk of being "beaten to the punch". A university granting royalty free IP may be the best of both worlds in terms of openness and practicality. IP is free to anyone willing to take the risk but then they get to take a crack at it knowing the idea is protected.
  - arethuza 16y ago
    Actually, you might have a point there - looking at how Google licensed PageRank from Stanford seems pretty similar to this scheme. I wonder who paid for that research though!
    - JanezStupar 16y ago
      I guess that Google has paid and will continue to pay back its investment many, many times over.
- hippich 16y ago
  I believe, by patenting their research results they can be sure no one will "overtake" research results in any way.
pjy04 16y ago
This is insane... lots of possibilities http://www.gla.ac.uk/businessandindustry/technology/easyaccessipdeals/ http://www.gla.ac.uk/businessandindustry/technology/easyacce... That list sums it up

23 points by fogus 16y ago

I've always been rather surprised as to why all UK universities don't give free access to all of their IP produced through taxpayer funded research to all and any UK taxpayers. Even better, do the research publish the results in the appropriate forums and let anyone anywhere do what they want with it. Of course, if the research is paid for privately then that's completely different. But for publicly funded research - make it public.

fanf2 16y ago

It would be better if they didn't waste money patenting it in the first place!

arethuza 16y ago
It's Scotland and it's the public sector - I don't think anyone worries too much about "wasting money" unless its for actual services that people care about. If you want a laugh/cry consider the ITIs: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2002/12/2753 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2002/12/2753 £450 million for research is a lot of money in country of about 6 million - they have been going for a long time now and what earth shattering innovations have we had?
alex_stoddard 16y ago
I am not so sure, at least for properly tangible patents. There are considerable risks and costs to developing a technology from a demonstration in a university department to something marketable. If companies especially of small to medium size, or their investors, don't have patent protection they may consider the investment not worth the risk of being "beaten to the punch". A university granting royalty free IP may be the best of both worlds in terms of openness and practicality. IP is free to anyone willing to take the risk but then they get to take a crack at it knowing the idea is protected.
- arethuza 16y ago
  Actually, you might have a point there - looking at how Google licensed PageRank from Stanford seems pretty similar to this scheme. I wonder who paid for that research though!
  - JanezStupar 16y ago
    I guess that Google has paid and will continue to pay back its investment many, many times over.
hippich 16y ago
I believe, by patenting their research results they can be sure no one will "overtake" research results in any way.

pjy04 16y ago

This is insane... lots of possibilities http://www.gla.ac.uk/businessandindustry/technology/easyaccessipdeals/ http://www.gla.ac.uk/businessandindustry/technology/easyacce... That list sums it up