Many U.S. universities now are involved in close working relationships with agricultural biotechnology firms, the nature of which fundamentally affect the research, education, and extension services the universities provide to the public. Yet we know little about the social and economic motivations and long-term effects of university-industry partnerships.  The central goal of this project is to assess university-industry research, licensing, and other partnerships, with special emphasis on the mix of public and private goods provided through agricultural biotechnology. 

The project investigators are a team of senior researchers from sociology, economics and molecular biology, and are joined by several research associates and assistants.  Four universities, Portland State, Oregon State, U. California-Davis, and Clarkson, plus two non-profit organizations, Farm Foundation and the Wallace Center for Agricultural and Environmental Policy at Winrock International are involved.  The project team will provide careful and dispassionate analysis of university and industry roles in addressing public good concerns at a time when agricultural biotechnology’s path of is uncertain. 

The project proposes to build on current knowledge by collecting detailed primary and secondary data on university-industry research relationships in agricultural biotechnology.  This information will help establish one of the first baseline pictures of the relationships and allow an in-depth examination of the factors affecting university collaborations with agricultural biotechnology firms.  Three linked data collection and analysis activities are planned:  (1) case study interviews with bioscientists, technical transfer officers and staff, administrators, and selected industry partners for approximately six U.S. universities, (2) model development of university-industry decision-making about the relationships and the effects on the public and private characteristics of agricultural biotechnology inventions and products, and (3) a national survey of a stratified random sample of universities to obtain representative data that permit hypothesis tests of the factors influencing bioscience research design and the effects on outputs.  The rigorous case studies, unique dataset, and statistical analyses from this effort will be essential for understanding the complex factors shaping agricultural biotechnology research in the early 21st Century.

Extensive outreach and education activities will be conducted to gather stakeholders’ inputs and to disseminate project findings.  Project information will be shared and discussed with a wide array of public and private groups via multiple outreach mediums.  The project will have web sites at Portland State and Oregon State for communication with the public and university and policy educators.  A set of targeted workshops and policy briefings will be held to inform scientists, university administrators, industry and interest group representatives, policy officials and others of the study's findings and policy implications.

This material is based upon work supported by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 2001-52100-11217.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.