Universities should get some financial credit for inventions arising from their studies. But there might be instances where important science should be undertak

Universities should get some financial credit for inventions arising from their studies. But there might be instances where important science should be undertaken even if it offers no medium term opportunity for commercial reward. E.g. studying sea urchin skeleton formation could provide insights into blood vessel growth in humans, but which co would pay someone to study sea urchins in the first place? Or mole rats - in the course of studying the creatures, scientists realised that they are age-defying - but which co would pay for the initial few decades of mole rat research that led to this realisation? Commercial gain is only a problem if it becomes the tail that wags the dog of science, narrowing its scope for the pursuit of short term profit. If universities are going to collaborate in research, then allowing multiple universities to benefit from patents arising from joint research makes sense, else patents would raise a competitive bar between scientists which would be counter-productive.