1/ It's crazy how much WWII and its aftermath shaped our current research system and its associated incentives: grants, patents, and power.
This letter from Sen. Kilgore illustrates how they basically made up what we take for granted:
science.sciencemag.org/content/102/26…
@anecdotal
This letter from Sen. Kilgore illustrates how they basically made up what we take for granted:
science.sciencemag.org/content/102/26…
@anecdotal
2/ He proposes the current structure of the NSF - president appointed directed + board members.
The six-year board members remove power from the president because there will always be cross-administration people. Truman and Eisenhower were pushing very hard for only a director.
The six-year board members remove power from the president because there will always be cross-administration people. Truman and Eisenhower were pushing very hard for only a director.
3/ Bush touches on the struggles over org structure in Pieces of the Action.
NASA followed the presidential-power-maximizing org structure which ultimately puts us in the situation were in today where NASA makes a new ten year plan every eight years.
NASA followed the presidential-power-maximizing org structure which ultimately puts us in the situation were in today where NASA makes a new ten year plan every eight years.
4/ Kilgore proposes that all patents generated from government-funded research become public-domain.
Bush (who was another huge player in creating the structure) points out that patents give people the incentive to fund commercialization:
Bush (who was another huge player in creating the structure) points out that patents give people the incentive to fund commercialization:
5/ The right move with patents is incredibly murky, but as @umbut points out, the current system under the Bayh-Dole Act that incentivizes every university to have their own tech transfer office horde patents in basically the worst of both worlds.
researchenterprise.org/2019/02/01/bus…
researchenterprise.org/2019/02/01/bus…
For the record I meant to h/t @anecdotal for pointing out the Kilgore article
6/ The kicker is that many countries modeled their systems off of the US systems that emerged out of WWII.
It creates a bit of an echo chamber where everybody sees everybody else doing the same thing:
It creates a bit of an echo chamber where everybody sees everybody else doing the same thing:
