By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
Seoul National University (SNU) will commercialize its research projects as part of its plan to diversify its income sources.
To be a profitable business, the school will set up a holding company for the first time among Korean universities. The company thus formed aims to make profits from the research achievements of the school’s professors next year.
The National Assembly, last July, passed a bill which allows universities to found profit-making companies and the school’s decision was followed with the demand to diversify revenue structure to be globally competitive.
``We cannot survive escalating competition with overseas universities by depending only on tuition fees and state subsidies, ‘’ a SNU official said.
SNU has already charted rules on the copyright of research projects, responsibility of venture business and research ethics. Guidelines also have been set up such as how to decide ownership of a research result, how to deal with conflict of interest and how to divide the benefits.
According to the rules, professors who want to run businesses need to report their plans to the school six months before and must donate 2-5 percent of stocks or stock options to the school.
Professors, who have not worked at the school more than three years or have less than three years before retirement, cannot do business. Professors need to get permission before they start business through partnership with private companies.
All research results related to business must be open to all professors and researchers involved as well as the school, unless the projects are for industrial or military purposes. All regulations will be completed by November through pending the consensus of the school committee members.