The distinction between basic and applied science is eroding in the life sciences, as fundamental discoveries at the molecular level prove immediately relevant to applied problems of medicine and agriculture. This transformation, together with increased intellectual property protection, motivates firms to perform, collaborate, and fund more basic science. On the public side, this transformation encourages universities and research institutes to commercialize their discoveries. This project examines how public and private funds and public and private values combine in support of collaborative discoveries, and investigates whose interests - those of the general public or private companies-are served. The research focuses on the case of plant biotechnology, mapping the relationships among scientists and the public, private, and nonprofit organizations involved in research on the genetic model organism Arabidopsis thaliana. In this setting, the research specifically seeks to answer three questions: What is the influence of company funding on 1) the focus of scientific research; 2) the applications and the spread of scientific ideas and techniques; and 3) the research activities and careers of scientists? In answering these questions, the project evaluates how a basic research program can take on an applied orientation. The project also traces the application of Arabidopsis discoveries beyond the scientists, organizations, sectors and countries from which they originate to new generations of basic bioscience and applied biotechnology. The project tracks these discoveries by following the trail of publications and patents that cite Arabidopsis research, and by following ideas and techniques across publications and patent texts. In addition, the research investigates how the association of firms with university science shapes the scientific patenting and publishing activities within universities and firms. This focus on interacting institutions and values at the frontiers of science and commerce will inform policy makers and philanthropists trying to assess the impact of science funding, and offer scientists insight into the uses of their work and the potential institutional conflicts that may constrain them. More broadly, this research will provide a map of the ways that knowledge spills across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors in the co-evolution of science and industry.
