I sponsor more academic research on my company than any other group here. It's a great way to stay in touch with the academic community, give to people who really need it, and give kids an 'in' at a great (the best) medical device company ever. Also, I've been using my past success to convince people at my company that I can guide great academic research and those in charge have been very open and enthusiastic about sponsoring some of the research I intend on pursuing next year. Even going to the point of starting to talk numbers and aims with me.
My most recent exploit has been very successful, however, the PI I'm dealing with wants to push results to publication. I love publishing, but this work has been going so well that I may be able to turn this into a great medical device. It's the first project where the profit will be realized immediately rather than 20 years down the road. Sooooo, I'm pub-blocking them.
I feel bad, especially since I really like the student on this, and this will delay their publishing. The agreement with the school is that I control when things are released. My concern with this now is that the PI will get antsy and leak information. Not through a conference or manuscript, but just in talking with people while at a conference or faculty meeting. Especially since they're starting to get frustrated, and in venting anger they may vent the idea. I've already filed for patents on this, but the patent probably won't be public for at least six months. When it's public, even though we don't have it issued yet, I've agreed to let it get submitted for conferences and manuscripts.
I'm trying to see this from the PIs point-of-view since I'll probably be in that situation before I know it. But I'm hoping that I will empathize more with my [past] company, and relay this to the student. Anyone out there that gets industry sponsorship and you're frustrated: please don't get too mad. We're not just doing this for greed or ego. This is something we have to...please understand. And please relay this to your students.
This is tough. We never know exactly about timelines and what we definitely don't know about is how long it takes to write a patent. Isn't it just a couple weeks for a patent to be drafted? There aren't extensive intro or discussion sections and it requires far less data crunching. Once it's filed shouldn't we be free to submit a pub?
ReplyDeleteIt really depends. When I first started working I had to deal with a patent approval board after submitting the idea, then if thing got approved it moved forward to an application. This process can take anywhere between 1 and 3 months. Then some people prefer the application become public before making the research public. This can tack on another 6-12 months. I have a shortcut route in my current role than makes it 2 weeks from idea to submission. But it still won't be public for a while. It's all lawyers and the crappy USPTO. Making things public at filing will give the competition a head-start, so we need to keep them in the dark as much as possible. And if the company starts to fail because of a leak, your funding source could potentially be gone.
DeleteHow do professors normally get in touch with you and pitch ideas? Is it in a typical grant-like cycle with reviewers and resubmissions?
ReplyDeleteI usually approach them after reading their research or seeing it at a conference. The couple that have approached me did so at a conference. I don't put out an announcement. It's mostly a right-place/right-time situation for them. No typical grant cycles at all. After being approached I usually ask them to write up a 5-10 page proposal. If I think it's good I push the funds. No committee, sucking up, or anything like that.
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