On July 28, a new executive order by President Biden was established. In an effort to increase domestic manufacturing and create more job opportunities in the U.S., Biden demonstrated his support for research through American “federally funded inventions” by expanding current regulations for American manufacturers to include a wider range of licensing agreements.
Tech transfer experts viewed this as a relief as universities, laboratories, and other agencies would have the opportunity to participate in taxpayer-funded research that would support an endless possibility of innovations.
“We dodged a bullet. What we’d heard for almost a year was that the administration was considering imposing the DOE model on everybody.”
Says Joseph Allen, executive director of the Bayh-Dole Coalition, a group of research organizations.
President Biden’s actions were also intended to fix the broken patent system. The current regime endangers creations made by small businesses or universities once a product starts to show commercial promise as it is easy for a larger company to steal their inventions. Since small companies don’t have the resources to enforce their patent, these big companies can take their creations and further develop them at a different location outside the U.S. at a low cost. In order to prevent this, Biden’s new executive order would increase regulations and maintain any improvements in technology inside the U.S.
The waiver application system is assumed to be facilitated with this new order. A survey made by the Association of University Technology Managers found that “out of 33 tech transfer offices that applied for waivers, eight waited at least one year to hear back” without any reassurance that their application was ever received or even reviewed. This order is meant to ensure that each application proceeds in a transparent and consistent manner rather than in long waiting periods.
Overall, Biden’s order is meant to encourage the production of “cutting-edge technology” in order to continue competing in the global market and to benefit the U.S. economy as well as the workers. This order demonstrates the potential for strengthening our national security and serves as an incentive to commercialize the market while allowing creators to maintain their “intellectual property rights.” Due to this, the U.S. would be able to secure its leadership in the net-zero emissions economy while increasing the number of investments made in research.
Written by Milanni Contreras
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