Adversarial Interoperability

a post by Cory Doctorow for the Boing Boing blog



“Interoperability” is the act of making a new product or service work with an existing product or service: modern civilization depends on the standards and practices that allow you to put any dish into a dishwasher or any USB charger into any car’s cigarette lighter.

But interoperability is just the ante. For a really competitive, innovative, dynamic marketplace, you need adversarial interoperability: that’s when you create a new product or service that plugs into the existing ones without the permission of the companies that make them. Think of third-party printer ink, alternative app stores, or independent repair shops that use compatible parts from rival manufacturers to fix your car or your phone or your tractor.

(Crossposted from EFF Deeplinks)

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The embodiment of knowledge: universities as engines of growth

an article by Reinhilde Veugelers (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium) published in Oxford Review of Economic Policy Volume 32 Issue 4 (Winter 2016)

Abstract

As universities open themselves up to the marketplace for knowledge and ideas to a greater degree than in the past, debates over university missions has been common.

How can universities match their third mission, contribution to society, with their main missions of education and curiosity-driven basic research to achieve their full growth potential?

This will require a change in policy attention from targeting university patenting and faculty spin-offs, to taking a broader view on universities’ contribution to economic development, including other pathways, most notably collaborative modes and mobility of trained human capital from academe to industry.

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