Source: Institute for Food and Agricultural Standards at Michigan State University

The agreement between the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) and the Novartis Agricultural Discovery Institute (NADI, now part of Syngenta) has been the subject of considerable debate on campus, in the Bay Area, and nationally. Given its large size and scope, it poses issues of changing university-industry relations, already the subject of considerable discussion, in a contested and highly publicized manner. Yet, despite widespread media coverage and much debate, no comprehensive study of the impact of that relationship on UCB, the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, or major research universities has been undertaken.

This study will attempt to eliminate that gap in our understanding of this type of universityindustry relationship. It will employ an interdisciplinary team of six persons, each with an interest in the subject matter, to
(1) analyze the impact of the agreement on the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology,
(2) evaluate the agreement's significance for UCB as a whole,
(3) assess the significance for research universities with special attention to Land-Grant institutions, and
(4) formulate conclusions and guidelines for future agreements of this kind.

The PIs will attempt to understand the issues from the perspectives of UCB faculty members, administrators, students, industry executives, California officials, members of the agricultural community in California, as well other key stakeholders. They will employ focused, semistructured, in-depth interviews as well as a review of printed documents and media accounts to obtain a thorough knowledge of the situation. They will set the project within the framework of academic literature on university-industry relations, and science and technology studies. Moreover, they will cooperate with another project with similar objectives, funded by the United States Department of Agriculture, to provide comparative data across institutions. The PIs will produce a draft report by the end of year one and a final report six months later. They will also pursue publication of results in both higher education news and scholarly publications in their respective fields.

Final report in PDF format (378 KB): http://www.msu.edu/user/ifas/docs/Berkeley_Final_Report_071204.pdf