A recent press report (Hurley, 2012) described a novel project started by two Oxford University PhD candidates, Daniel Perez and Mehmet Fidanboylu. Their firm, Marblar.com, aims to find ways of matching new research studies with those who see opportunities to develop innovative applications of the research findings. They note that "currently 95-99% of patents filed by universities never leave the cabinet they were filed in a stunning waste of resources and people'shard work, leaving so much potential unfulfilled".The ways in which these entrepreneurs plan to change this is of interest, and seems to have potential, but what really struck me was their statement that: "The best innovation happens at the interaction of disciplines - when the engineer looks at what the biologist is doing".
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