Robert Birgeneau, UCB Chancellor, has written a letter to the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights pledging that the university will ensure discoveries made at the proposed energy institute funded by a $500 million deal with oil giant BP are developed "for the public benefit."
"I assure you that we are aware of these responsibilities," Birgeneau wrote, "they are part of our conception of Berkeley’s mission, and we do indeed live up to them."
Berkeley’s top administrator was responding to a letter written by FTCR reminding the university that the school had recently endorsed a white paper on the social responsibilities of universities. The letter also expressed concern that BP would gain unfair control of discoveries made at the institute and that the oil giant would capitalize on UC Berkeley’s name to greenwash its image in advertising campaigns.
Birgeneau said that Assistant Vice Chancellor Carol Mimura was one of the authors of the social responsibility white paper and would be the univerity’s key negotiatior with BP.
Sounds good so far, but the devil is in the details.
Berkeley is still proposing to give BP first rights to negotiate licenses for any discoveries. The results of the research should be open to all comers on an equal basis.
Birgeneau suggests that many of the proposed deal’s details "are the standard polices for industry-sponsored research at research universities." But the BP deal is anything but usual. Its unprecedented financial magnitude alone demands new approaches rather than standard, off-the-shelf research agreements.
Nor does the chancellor’s letter address how BP’s scientists at the institute who will be working at a public facility on proprietary — in other words secret — research will relate to academic scientists.
I appreciate Dr. Bigeneau’s letter. But a lot more issues must be settled before Berkeley has an agreement with BP that ensures "that the research will be done to world class standards and in conformity with the many UC and Berkley policies covering matters such as intellectual property, conflict of interest, and academic freedom."
A lot will be resting on Ms. Mimura’s shoulders.