Faculty head says LSU has fewer commercialization obstacles

LSU, which long has had a reputation for not working well with the private sector, recently has made a concerted effort to improve its commercialization efforts, says LSU faculty senate President Kevin Cope. “I think we’ve made considerable headway, with the cooperation of the former chancellor, Mike Martin, in clearing away some of the obstacles,” Cope says. “However, there is still a long, long way to go.” Inconsistencies remain, he says, in the intellectual property policies at the various universities across the state, making it difficult for faculty members to collaborate across systems. Cope says improving economic development through technology transfer and commercialization is an admirable goal, as long as it doesn’t take away from the broader mission of the university. For example, he says, having EA Sports at LSU is great, but it doesn’t do much for the humanities. “Last time I looked, there weren’t many video games in which Shakespeare went up against Tiger Woods,” he says. —David Jacobs