Research Rules

The first set of formal guidelines for industrially sponsored research at Harvard yesterday received preliminary Faculty approval.

The Faculty Council--the Faculty's executive steering committee--voted to recommend to the full Faculty adoption of the general principles, which set down on paper for the first time the University's position on the controversial topic of "technology transfer."

The Faculty will consider the policy at a May meeting. The eight other Harvard faculties are drafting similar guidelines, with the aim of reaching a consensus.

The formal guidelines will be released Friday and are expected to mirror earlier drafts closely.

The guidelines cover four major policy areas: conduct of research; conflict of interest rules; the review and evaluation of projects; and the touchy issue involved with patenting and licensing inventions deriving from University-based research.

The new policy will replace a series of case-by-case procedures used previously when Harvard made agreements with companies involved in biomedical and DNA research.

The statement effectively formalizes the status quo and reaffirms the University's long-standing commitment to academic freedom in light of the increasingly alluring financial benefits offered by private industry.

Harvard officials have said that the new guidelines could significantly change--either slow or speed--the pace of such research at Harvard. The University now receives about $5 million annually from corporate research contracts, in addition to about $100 million from the government that is handled according to guidelines established in 1975.