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Team:Manchester/ManagementPart3
From 2013.igem.org
When doing the initial research for our synthetic alternative to palm oil components, we quickly came across lots of information regarding the current palm oil industry. It soon became apparent that the economies of some countries, for example Indonesia and Malaysia, depend almost entirely upon the current methods of palm oil production. Therefore we compiled a detailed impact analysis report for synthetic palm oil, which can be found by clicking on the button to the right.
Should we successfully patent our project and be able to licence it out to another country, the problem of exactly who should receive the licence arises. A few options present themselves. The technology could be given to an academic institution, a relevant industry or to the government itself.
Before deciding whether it would be best to licence the project out to academia or a government body, it’s necessary to evaluate the current infrastructure available from each sector, and make sure that the sector can properly accommodate the technology. Here we focus primarily on Malaysia, with a view that Indonesia will have similar policies and services available to it.
Academia
- Several universities in Malaysia offer Ph.D courses in Biotechnology, indicating that this is currently an active research area[1]
- Institutes such as Agro-Biotechnology Institute Malaysia (ABI) often collaborate with universities on a variety of projects[2]
Government
- Malaysia has a Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) - this has a Biotechnology cluster[3]
- Cluster members provide services and facilities to help support programmes for the National Biotechnology Policy, each member may be in the position to accommodate the technology associated with this project
- Genom Malaysia is a not-for-profit organisation that works on the generation new IPs and technologies to aid economic growth, with a focus on areas such as metabolic engineering[4]
Upon researching the options, we can conclude that issuing the patent licence out to a government body such as Genom Malaysia, rather than a specific university, would be the best scenario. This is because the facilities are already in place for government bodies to take up the project and get the most out of it. Collaborations with universities could be established via the ABI once the technology is up and running in an attempt to further optimise the processes if the need arises.
References
[1] Education Malaysia. Institution Profile: AIMST University
[2] Malaysia Agro-Biotechnology Institute
[3] Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation Malaysia. MOSTI Biotechnology cluster
[4] Genom Malaysia
