WHOI-90-52

of academic resech is critica, both for the long term vitaity of resech and graduate education
and for attracting industral support.
Industrial infuence on acadmic research. A major concern rase by university-industr
coperation is that corprate values wil divert academic resech from its proper role, the sech
for knowledge. It does not appe that this is ocurrng. University and industral parcipants
are in the main agreeing on the resech that warts support. One view is that a major cultural
change in universities came after World War II, when agencies like DoD and NI began to
support "realy fairly directe basic resech." In this light, industral support is only "a small
perturbation. "
Faculty loyalties and incentives. There has been a change in faculty loyalties over the past forty
yeas. Prior to WW II, little funding was available outside the university, and faculty concerns
were directe toward their own institutions. With the significat increase in federa support,
there came incentives for promoting individual disciplines and growth in professional and
scientific soieties. Faculty loyalties were directed toward their disciplines, their colleagues in
the relevant soieties, and their program officers in the federa funding agencies. Now, the
potential for significat increase in academic saares through alliances with business and the
financial community may diminish faculty loyalties to their universities and their disciplines.
To some this is a major concern; others se this as the exception rather than the rule. They se
faculty loyalties to science and engineerig running high in spite of the possibilty for individual
financial gai.
Freedom of communication. The alliances do not appe to be imposing unacceptable constraints
on publication and communication, expet perhaps in highly competitive fields like
biotehnology. Here, however, views differ as to whether these constraints are brought on by
commercial or scientific competition. In one sense, industral-academic connections have served
to increase communications among scientists and engineers between setors and between
disciplines.
Educatonalfunctions. The education of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, including
foreign students, is a central feature of all the collaborative programs examined by the
roundtable. Students are going on after graduation in significat numbers to work for the
paricipating companies. The programs have stimulate the development of new courses and
have brought about an increase in interdisciplinar, interdeparmenta, and interuniversity
collaboration.
Cooperation amng companies. Obtaning coperation among competing companies in
academic-industral alliances has not been a serious problem. Fea of antitrst regulations has
dissipate, and coperation among competitors that involves academe is viewed favorably within
current antitrst policies. Paricipation in the alliances by foreign companies vares. The
Massachusetts General Hospita-Hoehst program is an example where parcipation by foreign
company is working. On the other hand, a senior official of a collaborative program in the
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