Science Committee Hearing on Foreign Companies’ Access to U.S. Universities

On October 28, the House Subcommittee on Science tackled what one congressman described as “one of the thorniest issues in science policy” -- the relationship between foreign corporations and American research universities. The two-hour hearing probably raised more questions than it answered.

Congress has been looking at this issue with an eye towards whether or not changes in existing U.S. law are needed. Last year, the Senate discussed this matter during its consideration of the NIH authorization bill. Current legislation governing foreign access to federally funded research at U.S. universities dates back to 1980.

Policy makers have been struggling with a number of questions surrounding this issue. Among them are what constitutes a U.S. company, as well as how a foreign company should be treated which provides significant employment in American facilities. The subcommittee acknowledges the internationalization of science and technology, and the desirability of the free flow of information in both directions. There is an awareness that it is very difficult to restrict information. Even establishing reciprocal access agreements to research is difficult, the subcommittee recognizes, since every nation has a unique research establishment.

Chairman Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) and Ranking Republican Sherwood Boehlert (R-New York) received testimony from five witnesses. Boucher opened the hearing by discussing the general concern that American taxpayers are supporting research at U.S. universities which is then commercialized by foreign corporations. Boehlert was more straight-forward, claiming that universities are sometimes “evasive” in their representations to Congress.

Mark Wrighton, MIT’s Provost, described the benefits of foreign sponsorship at MIT, and warned of the “chilling” effect any restrictions might have. Following him was Gerard Mourou, Director of the NSF Center for Ultrafast Optical Science at the University of Michigan. Mourou described the benefits of international collaborations, and also supported total reciprocity and the free flow of information.

Daniel Kaplan, Acting President of the French Physical Society, cited instances of scientific collaboration between the University of Michigan and France’s Thomson Central Research Laboratory. He described how French and American researchers have worked on both sides of the Atlantic on semiconductor devices and ultra short laser pulses. Also testifying in support of the unrestricted flow of information were Susan Wray of the University of Florida and Robin Risser, CEO of Picometrix, Inc.

There were few indications from this hearing that the subcommittee will be taking definitive action in the near future. If any problem was made apparent to the subcommittee, it was likely the difficulty in getting any corporation - American or foreign - interested in commercializing new research discoveries.