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Originally Posted by dc_dux
The problem with trusting the free market is also noted in the article:
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Having done both academic and commercial research, I'll say a couple of things.
Working for the company was nicer, better lab, better perks (really nice hotel at the research conference over the cheapest room), and better pay. Part of the issue was I was at a state university, private ones tended to be a bit nicer, but thats a whole other topic. The company required results, the academic one I could pretty much coast as long as I came up with something. Both worked out well for me in the end.
Now the question is, is the company subcontracting the academic researcher or is it a donation? If its a subcontract, like mine was, they were paying me to do a job, what they did with that was their business, quite literally.
The reason they would have a right to veto has nothing to do with trust. Sure you can get on about them covering up this or that, but its really about patients. Lets say I come up with a new polymer that doesn't shrink on cure. That would be a big invention, but lets say even though it doesn't shrink, its still not practical for the intended use. Its too soft, or its cure time is too long or whatever. If I go and publish this, it would be a nice little feather in my academic cap. It also gave away a piece to every competitor out there. Being that company X is funding the research they should be allowed to see it to its fruition. After thats over, publish what you want.
What you see are two different goals of those involved. When I worked for a company they told me 'This is happening, we don't know why, try to figure it out, here is money.' I did that and I did figure it out. Their goal wasn't to see me publish (I did but thats just a bonus) their goal was to solve a problem, and promote a product. They used my research to do so.
When in the academic world, solving the problem is good because now you have something to publish. It means you can add that to your C.V. and next time you apply for a grant you have that much more.
One of the ironic things in all this was that I was being written into a grant that would have payed me a lot of money (by Raman noodle eating student standards). It was a good project, and it was rejected by the N.I.H. because it had too much commercial value and they told the guy writing it to find a company to fund it instead.