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choosing resech paths. In general, industral sponsors who make grats do not expet to
review resech results prior to publication. However, industr sponsors often expet this kind
of relationship to enhance contacts with resechers at universities or nonprofit institutions and
thereby to faciltate the transfer of know-how.
Industrial Liaison Programs OLPs), ILPs, also known as industral assoiates programs or
subscription groups, are a common mechanism for tehnology trsfer. Generaly, these
programs involve financial contrbutions from commercial firms to a scientific institution in the
form of a membership fee. In return, industral assoiates recive the results of information
develope at the resech institution through formal seminars, informal discussions with
resechers, raw or parally interpreted data, etc.
It is likely that most of the direct industr funding at WHOI is a result of grants from
commercial firms involved in industral
liaisons. The Oc Industr Program (OIP) at WHOI
is the best-known example. OIP has members drawn exclusively from the oil and gas industr.
The program was initiated in 1971 primarly at the urging of an official from Shell Exploration
who was interested in facilitati~g access to unprocsse geophysica data obtaned and stored by
WHOI in its marne geologiCa investigations. Assoiates programs were established
concurrently at Scripps and Lamont-Doherty for the same purpses. Cutbacks in commercial
exploration and R&D budgets, oil company mergers, and the availabilty of data from other
sources have cause a decline in OIP membership and income since the late 1970s.
One of the most successful examples of ILPs is MI's Industral Liaison Progra. Founded in
1948, it provides industral firms with access to MI's expertse and resources, as well as
comprehensive information about resech and educational activities at MIT. MIT faculty and
staff receive revenue sharng from the ILP (10 percent of gross revenues) base on their
paricipation in the Program's activities. Recntly, the progra has come under criticism for its
role in transferrng results of U.S.-funded resech to foreign ILP-members, parcularly to
Japanese firms.
In the ocographic field, industrial liaison programs appe to be most useful in situations
where the volume of data collection exces existing capacity of the resech infrastrcture to
procss and analyze.
Intellectual Property Protection and Licensing. The protetion and licensing of intellectual
propert includes seking patent and copyright protection for the results of work performed at
the institution and the licensing of such intellectual property to commercial ventures. In return
for the grat of licenses, resech institutions recive financial or other resources from licenses.
These resources ca assume many different forms, including fixed fees, obligations to support
resech at the institution, royalties, equity shares, etc.
WHOI seks patent (and copyright) protetion, in its own name, for resech results that appe
to have commercial potential. This is accomplished either through WHOI's internal Patent
Committe or, at the recommendation of the Patent Committe, by an outside intellectu
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