Why is this so important?

When participating in academic research, the investigator's primary obligation is to produce objective and valid results. It is vital to secure the safety of human research subjects. "The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 is widely viewed as having created incentives for socially useful collaboration between academia and industry. The resulting commercialization of research harnesses the collective intellectual and creative talents of university faculty, speeds the development of new and improved therapies, stimulates regional economic growth, and contributes to the economic viability of research institutions. Notwithstanding these benefits, the increasing involvement of academics in commercially-sponsored research places new demands on institutions to be scrupulous in crafting and enforcing their conflict of interest policies, and on investigators to be diligent in adhering to them." (AAMC, 'Protecting Subjects, Preserving Trust, Promoting Progress,' Task Force on Financial Conflicts of Interest in Clinical Research, December 2001) | Bayh-Dole Act of 1980: institutions and researchers are to share in the return on successful inventions arising from federally-funded research. "Rights to Inventions made by Nonprofit Organizations and Small Business Firms," codified at 37 CFR Part 401.