Actually, the business side of science is much more complicated than it might appear, according to biotechnology experts. Tension between a faculty member who comes up with an idea and the institution that owns it complicates the future of companies born in universities. "It's not easy anywhere," Jonathan Kaufman says. "Starting a company is a lot of work." A former academic researcher, Kaufman is now science director of Pittsburgh-based LaunchCyte, a firm that creates new biotechnology ventures. "There are faculty that consider themselves to be at odds with their institutions," he observes. "They might think, 'The university is going to get this big cut, so I'll go outside and do it on my own.' That is a pitfall."
Unlike university technology-transfer officials, most scientists lack established relationships with patent lawyers and marketing specialists. It is also rare for scientists to know as much as the officials do about negotiating the ...
