Give the University due credit (Score 1)

The sad thing is that, once again, the University is left out of the innovation equation. In this time when the United States economy is being driven by technology, it is important to remember that the University is one of the few places where innovation can occur in a relatively free environment. It is the one place where a five to twenty year development cycle is accepted. There is nothing wrong with an entrepreneur taking the publically funded prototype and creating a commercial product. What is bad is when that entrepreneur wants to pretend that the University is not a critical part of the process.

Drug companies are especially guilty of this crime, greatly inflating their research costs and downplaying the fact that most basic research is done through highly efficient government and private grants at the public research institutions.