Misdirecting research
The Bayh-Dole Act was passed on December 12, 1980, aiming to give universities, small businesses and research organisations intellectual property control of inventions that come out of federally funded research. The act enables the private sector to buy rights to produce inventions from research institutions. This promotes a research-industry partnership model, which devalues fundamental research at the cost of commercially-oriented innovation by giving researchers financial incentives for pursuing the latter. Moreover, state funding is constricted, with the act encouraging private sector expansion.