A recent paper published in the journal Industry and Innovation delivers damning evidence that decisively dismantles any justification for abolishing the professor's privilege. The study makes it abundantly clear that such a move would be a grave mistake, causing significant harm to innovation, entrepreneurship, and the effectiveness of technology transfer mechanisms:
Unfortunately, the authors fail to acknowledge the findings previously reported by Swedish researchers (Jacobsson, Lindholm-Dahlstrand and Elg) in an interesting and important paper titled "Is the commercialization of European academic R&D weak?—A critical assessment of a dominant belief and associated policy responses." published in the journal Research Policy. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733313000103
These researchers explicitly warned that abolishing the professor's privilege could have severe consequences, including the erosion of robust university–industry networks, distortion of technical innovation, suppression of entrepreneurial activity, and the imposition of prohibitive costs on universities—ultimately jeopardizing the very process of technology transfer.
