Bio:

Al leads the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC), a public-private partnership in the biomedical research and pharmaceutical sector. The SGC generates research tools and knowledge to support basic science and early-stage drug discovery, and since 2004 has placed all its research output into the public domain without restriction, including without patents as a core principle. Al is a Professor and Temerty Nexus Chair of Health Innovation and Technology at the University Toronto.

 Abstract

For centuries, the main roles of universities in society have been to train and educate young people, and to contribute to the generation of new knowledge.  However, over the past decades, there have been increasing calls for universities to play more active roles in translating this knowledge into products.  This has led to the question as to how universities can accomplish this new mission without sacrificing their core mission.  I will argue, drawing both on system-wide evidence and using specific examples, that the best way to deliver on the three university missions - training, knowledge generation and knowledge translation - is to work with industry under open science (never patent) principles. 

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