Industry committee  One of the reasons I came to SFU was the freedom policy, and I'd normally get into trouble making a lot of these comments.

Industry committee  It's always very cliché when you talk to professors about why we went to universities and didn't take higher-paying jobs in industry. The answer is always intellectual freedom. And that is true until something works and has value, and then universities like to take it over. I think having the IP in the inventor's hands is absolutely critical to making sure it's done well.

Industry committee  I think it's very well put that it depends on the research sector. There are some sectors that we identified in biotech where it would be much more dangerous to go forward without good IP protection. He's absolutely right about that. That being said, my experience these days with a lot of investors is that they want direct tech transfer into a company if it spins off, because, especially in the area I'm in, which is material science, a lot of developments may be made peripheral to the initial products that you're aiming for.