Incentives to stimulate application of research results good for all

THE BEIJING PEOPLE'S CONGRESS STANDING COMMITTEE, the city's legislature, recently released a draft regulation aimed at promoting the practical application of scientific and technological research results. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

The draft, which has been released for public opinions, states that colleges and other research institutions should give all or part of the intellectual property rights of any scientific or technological achievement to the researchers involved, who can then profit should there IPR be applied in production.

It also requires the Beijing government to provide preferential policies for the technological experts in terms of housing, medical insurance, and jobs for their children.

That's a good move to encourage practical research results, but how to apply research achievements in actual production is also important.

There is still a huge gap between scientific and technological research and its practical use. Certain research institutes do very good technological research, but fail to properly apply the results of their research.

There are many reasons for this, but a major one is the lack of incentives. For example, an institute might apply for the patent on any research results. Thus the researchers might not gain much from their efforts because the institute will receive most of the profits.

That's unfair. The researchers might have got certain conveniences and support from the offices they serve, but the research results are the products of their intellectual labor and they should enjoy at least part of the profits.

As a result and maybe to protest against this unfair arrangement, certain researchers refuse to apply their research results, while some just resign and open their own companies so they can profit from their research.

Beijing's move might hopefully break this dilemma. By allowing researchers to profit from their research, it may encourage them to apply their research results in actual production. In this way, researchers will take the initiative to transfer their scientific and technological achievements out of the ivory tower.