University-Industry Relations: Conflict of Interest and Academic Mission

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In the United States the university evolved from a teaching to a research institution in the late nineteenth century, and into a teaching, research and economic development enterprise in the late twentieth century. Acute controversy accompanied and continues to accompany these transitions. This study examines issues of conflict of interest and conflict of commitment arising from academic-industry relations. There are two models which describe the approaches universities use to resolve or regulate these conflicts: separating academic and business activities, or integrating research and business activities under the rubric of a broader institutional mission. The degree to which one or the other model dominates indicates the degree to which an academic institution has assimilated and legitimated economic development as part of its mission. With partial support from this research award, this investigator will complete case study research at six U.S. universities. The cases provide detailed information about the range of institutional responses to these controversies, in historical and sociological context. The research will identify and elucidate the origins of the controversies, and the different positions and resolutions that institutions assume and arrive at. It will assess the implications of these new policies and developments for issues of industrial and academic policy, nationally and internationally, and for regional development. Results of the study will be published in articles and a book which will interest universities, companies and government officials and agencies concerned with the changing mission of the university to assist economic and social development.