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Friday, June 27, 2014

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

UC is trumpeting a new mechanism for investing in companies that use university research:

The University of California announced Thursday that it will now be allowed to invest directly in companies that commercialize technologies formed through UC research. UC President Janet Napolitano also announced that she will form a new UC Innovation Council to aid the University in commercializing research done by its campuses. The council, which will meet in August, will include business and investment executives, venture capitalists and experts, among other members. For the past 25 years, the UC was restricted from investing in companies that derive products from its research because it was concerned that the investments would be seen as favoring certain faculty members. The change in policy comes from recommendations from a systemwide working group and consultations from faculty and administrators...

Full story from Daily Bruin at http://dailybruin.com/2014/06/26/new-policy-allows-uc-to-invest-in-commercialization-of-its-research/

One can think of things that could go wrong but why dwell on unpleasant possible results?.  The Regents didn't dwell on possible unpleasantness when they approved a joint venture in China with a for-profit firm to do clinical trials on human subjects back in January:
http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2014/01/something-to-think-about-while-waiting.html.
What could possibly go wrong with that?

Problems rarely arise.  Right?

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