Q. What are the benefits of joint public-private
research?
A. Joint public-private research is
one way that USDA inventions are brought to the marketplace.
USDA researchers are spared the development work needed
to prepare these technologies for commercialization. Private
companies and consumers gain access to a new technology,
while USDA researchers can focus on research that benefits
more people and in other areas.
Public-private collaborations offer firms and research
institutions valuable USDA information, either about
a particular technology or line of development or else
scientific expertise that differs from that of the
private sector and academia. Even if the research does
not result in a marketable product, the results of
these efforts can instruct companies on technology
opportunities and the development process. Likewise,
collaborations inform government scientists as to industry
needs, and USDA also benefits through shared license
fees and royalties.
Joint public-private research helps reduce the costs to the developers
and users of agricultural technologies. Many technologies cannot
be developed without major investment (as for production scale-up
and market development). Unless a company is assured that the returns
to R&D will exceed its cost, a technology may not be developed,
even if the potential payoff is high. By reducing research costs
and (sometimes) providing the opportunity for exclusive rights,
joint research allows companies to explore a broader range of alternatives
for development.
Similarly, a technology may provide large social benefits, but
the investment required to commercialize the technology may exceed
its return. In these cases, technology transfer by the government
can offer the support necessary to explore research that has social
benefits, but which may be risky, or may not have sufficient private
returns. A new technology that is more environmentally benign than
an existing technology, such as the postharvest biofungicide BIO-SAVE
11, which uses bacteria to fight storage rots on apples, pears,
and citrus is one such example. It can reduce fruit losses from
decay while decreasing grower reliance on chemical fungicides.
See Agricultural Technology Development in Agricultural
Resources and Environmental Indicators.
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