Team:CSU Fort Collins/Practices

Human Practices

Bridging the Gap

Bridging the Gap is a collection of interviews and blog posts investigating the transfer of knowledge, employees, and intellectual property between industry and academia. Bridging this gap between academia and industry is fundamental to the success of manufacturing products based in research. There is also a gap in knowledge between the public and scientists regarding G.M.O.s, which has led to complex - and sometimes overly cautious - legislation.

In particular, our team was very interested in how intellectual property comes into play when companies utilize or commercialize research. We spoke to Dr. Andrea Haight, a polymer chemist with over 15 years of experience in small business, and found that protected research is frequently not used by companies to prevent violation of patents. Our team also spent a large amount of time trying to navigate patent law and deciding whether or not we would patent our process. This included consideration of the alternatives: proprietary information and open source technologies. Rod Tompkins from CSU's technology transfer office was fundamental in helping us make our decision to file a provisional patent. We also investigated the policy surrounding agricultural G.M.O.s to better understand how our project would be seen by the law.

Our extended thoughts on these subjects have been compiled into article-style blog posts which we hope give the general public and other scientists a new perspective on science law, intellectual property, and industry.


Articles

On Balancing Protection and Progress in Intellectual Property

In intellectual property decisions, balance is the key to achieving scientific advancement while protecting assets.

ANTHONY ROULIER | September 13, 2015, 11:00 pm

Farm to Table: The Regulation of Agricultural G.M.O.s

The United States leads in G.M.O. production, but what about G.M.O. regulation?

CHAUNCY HINSHAW | September 10, 2015, 5:20 pm

Dr. Andrea Haight on the Risks and Rewards of Scientific Industry

Dr. Andrea Haight lets us in on all the challenges and rewards of industry, how to manage intellectual property concerns, and why she doesn't plan on leaving small business anytime soon.

OLIVIA SMITH | July 29, 2015, 3:05 pm