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June 4, 2015

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Home » Metro » Education

Local universities encouraged to profit from research projects

By Cai Wenjun | June 4, 2015, Thursday | Print Edition

LOCAL universities and scientific research institutes are now being encouraged to promote their research papers and projects with the added bonus of keeping the income generated from them.

The government will in fact not involve itself in the matter, while institutes and universities will not be hauled up for any financial losses resulting from the commercialization of the projects.

“There are still many bottlenecks during the industrialization of scientific achievements and the city is trying to streamline the process,” said Chen Jie, vice director of Shanghai Science and Technology Commission during a media briefing. “It is important for the city’s promotion as an innovation and creativity center.”

Previously, universities and institutes could not promote their scientific achievements, while the profit from their efforts, if any, all went to the government coffers. The price of the product was also dictated by a third party designated by the government.

For example, a plant bioreactor technology developed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University was valued at 10 million yuan (US$1.61 million) by a third-party agency, but the best offer the university could get was 6 million yuan.

Since the university did not have the rights to sell, it had to report to the ministries of education and finance. The entire process usually takes two to three years, so the university chose to simply put it aside.

“Under the new policy, the university can decide on the price itself,” Chen said yesterday.

He said the government will come up with a system to ensure the smooth operation of commercialisation of technology and build a mechanism to improve the social responsibility of universities and research institutes for project commercialization.

A series of rules and regulations will also be worked out to protect the researchers’ profits.

Shanghai Education Commission said both the central and regional education authorities are encouraging the universities, teachers and students to innovate.

“More flexible teaching and management will be introduced for the convenience of students and teachers to plan business startups,” said Yuan Wen, vice director of the commission. “Students can hold back studies for businesses, while teachers can also serve in enterprises.”

Shanghai Join-in Energy Technologies said it has three top experts from Chinese universities and an institute, to work in its academic work station to develop solar and desalination technology. This is one of the 15 academician work stations approved by the city government this year to encourage experts to cooperate with enterprises to promote research and commercialize new technologies, the company said.

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