An unusually candid debate has been playing out on the pages of MedCityNews in recent days about the future of technology transfer at the University of Minnesota. Technology transfer refers to the process of turning basic university research into commercial products.
Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-St. Paul, started the skirmish by
telling MedCityNews that if the university doesn't reform its technology transfer office, he'll introduce a bill at the Legislature that will force reform, including possibly privatizing the tech transfer office.
The University of Minnesota's top research official, Tim Mulcahy, then
fired back, characterizing Mahoney's criticisms as naive and reckless.
MedCityNews journalist Thomas Lee writes that the feud is actually a sign of progress:
"Yet, believe it or not, the dispute itself reflects real progress. That two fairly important guys would openly argue about something as arcane as technology transfer shows how far we've come... Mahoney has been in the legislature a long time, so why call out the university now? You don't complain about something unless you think someone actually cares about it."
Read the entire MedCityNews summary here.