This week I’m attending a course in commercializing science. I figured that even if I’m not feeling very commercial at the moment it’s good to have the general idea of how these things work. The course is interesting, and the composition of students maybe even more so – we are a mix of graduate students from all kinds of fields – quantum chemistry, medical imageing, business…This mix inspires a number of intense discussions. So far I have been most surprised by the realization that “we” (by which I mean hands-on scientists) are doers. I always felt that we tend to get caught in discussions but that is nothing to some of my new course mates. Very interesting discussions, and I learn a lot from them, but I can sometimes get impatient for reaching some kind of conclusion and going out and actually do something (preferably an experiment!).
Another good reason for taking this course when working with research in Sweden is the so called Teachers’ exception . The essence of this “exception” is that if you, while doing your research, finds something that you think you could patent, develop, and sell, then you own the rights to that discovery. This differs from the rules in most other places where the university has the rights to your invention. The course teaches us that in Sweden it’s completely ok for you not to tell anyone at your university about your idea, but to start your own company, patent your invention, develop and sell your product. The universities usually offer start-up help and may invest some money in your business, so most start-up companies go through the universities somehow (still, that only means that the university supports you, the rights to your idea are still yours). The benefit of this system is obviously that there is a lot of entrepreneurship initiative – many PI’s have a business on the side, and new patents are being filed regularly. On the other hand one could discuss if the universities and funding agencies should really pay for the basic research that will then benefit a private company. I don’t know enough to tell what system is the best. Clearly the Swedish system is fun if you want to become an entrepreneur!
Where can I sign up? I am just overflowing with business ideas that probably should be categorized under the name idiotic propositions, but then again who ever thought toilet paper was going to be huge?
Hahaha! But many of the best ideas are the simple ones that no one thought of. Still, I learnt today that you have to believe in your ideas enough to invest a substantial amount of money in them yourself – if your ability to keep a roof above your head and food on your table is not at risk no venture capitalist will believe you’ll work hard enough…
Wow – that’s so progressive of Sweden! That’s not the case in Canada (at least at my university), but I think it should be.