Studies on Unrestrained and Commercializable Intellectual Property in Higher Educational Institutions

Abstract

The studies are related to aspects of scientific publications (Unrestrained Intellectual Property, UIP) as well as patents and technology transfer (Commercializable Intellectual Property, CIP) largely at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Data on the publication pattern of over hundred academic faculty in the disciplines of physical and mathematical sciences, mechanical sciences, electrical sciences, chemical sciences and biological sciences covering forty departments are collated and subjected to analysis on the patterns and differences between different disciplines in basic sciences and engineering sciences at IISc over a ten-year period. Addressing the question of whether the number of papers is a good indicator of quality or the word count of the publications is a better representation shows that even though there is a broad relationship, there is a factor 2 in the number of papers vis-à-vis number of words and so, the emphasis on number of papers can seriously undermine the perception on the influential nature of the individual’s work. Even though some industry – academia interactions existed, but was limited and the primary reason was traced in questionnaire-based discussions that the role of CIP appears largely unattended by inadequate institutional recognition to this venue as an intellectual pursuit.

Keywords: Patents; CIP; UIP; Word count as a tool to quantify scientific output; Faculty promotion and evaluation