Wide Open Science

I was reading this article in Techdirt today (which typically has a lot more to do with ‘HiTech” gadgets like computers and iPhones than Biotech):

Stop Worrying About Basic Research: Focus On Practical Innovation

For years, we’ve been among those pointing out that the really important thing in economic growth isn’t invention, but innovation. It’s the process of actually taking an idea and successfully bringing it to market in a way that people want that matters in the long run. Coming up with new ideas is only a small part of the process. That’s why we often have so much trouble with the way the patent system works. It greatly enhances the role of simply coming up with the new idea, and then makes the important part — the innovation — a lot more expensive. However, when we discuss this, we often get angry comments from people noting that “basic research” would disappear without patents. Of course, that’s unlikely for a variety of reasons, including the fact that a great deal of basic research has little or nothing to do with patents.

However, a recent deeply researched book by Columbia professor Amar Bhide called The Venturesome Economy goes even further in noting that all of this talk about basic research misses the point: basic research has little impact on actual innovation. If we want to focus on actually helping the economy, investing in basic research will do very little. The real trick is in encouraging that ongoing innovation — those “mid-level” improvements that make products more acceptable in the market. Even if basic research occurs outside of the US, our ability to take ideas and shape them into successful businesses by engaging in that process of refining and improving are what will allow the economy to continue growing. It’s great to see more academic support for these concepts.

This makes a lot of sense to me, but I took it one step further.  At most companies or privately held biotechs, the company owns everything that comes from basic research they finance.  This is manifest in many ways, but usually a simple employment agreement at the time of hire signs all of you personal discoveries over to the Corporation.

But what about Government Funded research?  And I am not just talking about research at USAAMRIID or other military-based Institutions, but any NIH funded research.  There is a lot of push back about simply making publications available to the public for free, Open Access.  After all, my and your tax dollars paid for this research.  Why should we have to pay again via a journal subscription (which our tax money pays for in addition to the research) for the pleasure of reading it?

Wouldn’t it just turn things upside down if all publicly (i.e. taxpayer) funded basic research would be in the public domain?  By this, I mean that the “invention” is owned by the people, of the people, for the people.  We paid for it, didn’t we?  Not patentable.  Let the research institution kick out the ideas and let people use their own money to commercialize them.

What I am proposing is a radical, Wide Open Science concept whereby any invention that is funded by tax payer dollars in in the public domain.  By doing this, we would take down the bureaucracy and non-sense inflation of value that is attributable the the NIH Office of technology transfer and almost every academic institution.  These inventions would be free for any budding entrepreneur to use for commercial advantage.  I have no issues with places like Johns Hopkins using their vast endowments to invest in basic research they they own.  They should not be able to use my tax money to create stuff they own or the NIH owns.  Who owns the NIH?  You and I do and all of the corporations that provide a lions share of the tax revenue.

So if the premise of the article is correct that our ability to take ideas and shape them into successful businesses by engaging in that process of refining and improving (and making commercially viable) are what will allow the economy to continue growing, then this concept of Wide Open Science may be road to recovery and growth of unprecedented proportions.

I must be going crazy, but it make a lot of sense to me.