3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

From the 19th century physicist William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) to contemporary geneticists such as Walter Gilbert and Craig Venter, academic scientists and engineers across a broad range of disciplines have commercialized academic knowledge and inventions as patentees, consultants, and entrepreneurs. This course examines the motives and strategies behind such commercialization activities, ethical issues associated with them, and the factors influencing their success. We will also explore the history of currently dominant policies and institutions designed to foster the commercialization of academic science and evaluate their impact from a longer-term perspective.