The National Research Council (NRC) will form a committee to convene a workshop, which would generate recommendations for agencies on how to facilitate and promote access to research resources. Various federal agencies are developing policies to promote the sharing of scientific research resources. This is in response to growing concern that industry and universities are pursuing the protection of the intellectual property embodied in these resources in ways that are decreasing what has traditionally been viewed as a very open exchange and sharing.
The committee will organize a workshop to air the various policies of federal agencies. It will provide an opportunity for individuals from the private and public research communities react to these policies and discuss their own perspectives and policies. The committee will make recommendations on the following questions:
1. Do existing policies promote the sharing of research resources and appropriately protect the rights of the owners of these research resources? In what ways could they be modified to further promote these goals?
2. Would greater uniformity in these policies further promote their goal? In what ways should these policies be made more uniform?
The study would develop a set of recommendations for federal agencies, for-profit research institutions, and not-for-profit research institutions focusing on policies aimed at promoting the sharing of research resources in the life sciences.
