The Economic and Marketing Challenges of Horticultural Biotechnology - Transgenic Horticultural Crops: Challenges and Opportunities - page 184

Since.the.mid-nineteenth.century,.governments.around.the.world.have.supported.
agricultural.research,.which.has.historically.produced.publicly.available.crop.vari-
ety.improvements.that.left.little.room.for.private.returns. 60 .The.rise.of.genetic.plant.
engineering.at.the.close.of.the.twentieth.century,.however,.dramatically.changed.the.
agricultural.R&D.landscape..Major.advances.in.crop.science.are.no.longer.mostly.
in.the.public.domain..Instead,.due.to.the.nature.of.the.technologies.and.the.devel-
opment.of.strong.IPRs,.the.beneits.of.innovation.are.excludable..Since.the.1980s,.
governments.began.adopting.policies,.like.IPRs,.to.motivate.a.greater.share.of.agri-
cultural.research.investment.from.the.private.sector..Consequently,.most.agricultural.
biotechnology.R&D.is.undertaken.by.biotechnology.start-ups.and.established.seed.
and.agrochemical.companies.
Because.the.costs.of.horticultural.biotechnology.are.immense,.including.the.ixed.
costs.of.commercialization,.the.costs.of.identity.preservation,.and.the.risks.associ-
ated. with. consumer. acceptance. and. comingling,. the. private. sector. is. expected. to.
invest.scarce.R&D.dollars.elsewhere,.like.GM.applications.for.large.market.crops.
that.do.not.directly.enter.the.food.supply..The.declining.investment.in.horticultural.
biotechnology.has.been.documented.by.a.number.of.authors. 54,61
Horticultural.research.has.typically.been.undertaken.in.the.public.sector,.but.bio-
technology.research.has.been.dominated.by.the.private.sector..While.there.are.some.
examples.of.public-private.partnerships.for.research.in.biotechnology,.none.relates.
directly.to.horticultural.biotechnology. 62 .Horticultural.biotechnology.research.would.
beneit. from. public-private. partnerships. because. the. traditional. paradigm. of.
one-way.information.lows.from.public.research.institutions.to.private.irms.is.out-
dated..Policy.changes.designed.to.push.research.expenses.toward.the.private.sector,.
the. consequent. stagnation. of. public. funding. for. crop. science. research,. the. rise. of.
large. life. sciences. irms,. and. the. alignment. of. public. and. private. incentives. for.
long-term.R&D.created.an.imperative.for.a.new.formulation.of.the.R&D.pipeline.
that.involved.closer.collaboration.between.industry.and.university. 62,63
Universities.are.considered.to.have.a.comparative.advantage.in.basic.research.and.
industry.in.applied.research. 64-66 .The.public-good.attributes.of.basic.research.make.
it. an. appropriate. it. for. the. university. environment. 67-70 . Applied. research,. with. its.
focus.on.solving.particular.problems,.can.be.better.motivated.by.a.proit.incentive,.
making.it.a.better.it.for.industry..The.division.of.research.labor.between.industry.
and.academia,.therefore,.allows.both.the.university.to.pursue.its.traditional.mission.
of.providing.an.intellectual.commons.and.the.irm.to.pursue.its.proit.motive..The.
complementarities.between.university.and.industry.research.have.been.fully.appre-
ciated.only.in.recent.decades. 66,71-73 .In.line.with.their.mission.of.maintaining.“intel-
lectual. commons,”. universities. have. historically. placed. innovations. in. the. public.
domain. 74 .Administrators.now.recognize,.however,.that.they.can.increase.the.beneit.
to.society.and.enhance.university.prestige.and.revenue.if.they.license.knowledge.to.
irms.that,.by.virtue.of.having.rights.to.technologies,.will.invest.in.their.development.
and.deployment. 75 .Firms.have.little.incentive.to.commercialize.a.technology.in.the.
public. domain. because. competing. irms. can. freely. capitalize. on. the. R&D. invest-
ments.of.others. 76
While.the.outlook.for.investment.in.new.horticultural.biotechnologies.appears.
dim. based. on. trends. in. public. funding. and. the. diversion. of. private. funds. to.