In Case of Conflict Increasing professional jealousy and competition among researchers has led to a heightened degree of secrecy by researchers seeking to maintain their competitive position with respect to publications, grants, contracts, tenure, and scientific recognition. Penn's Patent Policy permits faculty with equity in startup ventures to conduct sponsored research supported by the venture. Penn's Patent Policy prohibits faculty from having a fiduciary role in startup ventures based on Penn-licensed technology or from being an officer or member of the Board of Directors if the company is sponsoring research at Penn in the investigator's laboratory. Faculty, however, may be members of Scientific Advisory Boards. In fact, Penn policy prohibits Penn researchers from having a management position with fiduciary or decision making responsibility in a licensee in which the researcher has stock and receives sponsored research.
Commercialization requires the support of faculty investigators.
Industry collaborations promote academic productivity. Penn has fair and reasonable policies, guidelines, and practices to manage industry university technology commercialization relationships and the real and perceived conflicts of interest such relationships create. Return to index for this issue .