31. Dec. 2008

A ZSI-Lecture, held by Bernhard Elias, is now available in the form of a "ZSI Discussion Paper" (44 p.) - however, in German only.

A short glimpse of the content in English (abstract):

Increasing pressures to utilise scientific knowledge and research economicly pertain to all domains of science, particularly including social sciences aiming at efficacy and impact in society. In fact, this is not new at all. However, the magnitude and pace of change towards a new mode of producing knowledge is unique and without historic precedence. In the wake of these developments, discrepancies widen between well protected innovations concerning technologies (patent law) on the one hand, and rather weakly protected innovations in society (copyright, intellectual property rights in general). This at the same time reveals serious social disaccords.

The paper provides an overview – written for social scientists – regarding intellectual property rights and related issues. Moreover it also presents information on intellectual property policies, and provides briefings based on scientific literature. In this context a debate may be initiated on the topic of the so-called „Europena paradoxon“ (good education and research side-by-side with under-utilisation of science and research results). Some studies and data indicate that the leeway of European vs. American Universities in transfer and use of knowledge appears overestimated.

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