> While the material composition and implementation techniques have already been tested at the University of Arizona, IronKast is currently in the process of commercializing the Ferrock patent and implementing it into pilot projects within marine environments.
So, in other words bought and paid for by the taxpayer, and sold to the highest bidder on the commercial market.
So much for encouraging use of this stuff. It'll be priced right out of the market because it's "green".
> So, in other words bought and paid for by the taxpayer, and sold to the highest bidder on the commercial market.
Yes. And why this has become common practice might surprise you.
Universities used to try to open technologies up to anyone who might want to use them. Cool new thing, come use it, free to all humanity! Problem was, for the most part nobody wanted the free thing. University outputs typically require some non-trivial amount of investment and work to actually be commercializable, and few companies want to invest when they can't know they'll get a commercial advantage over the competition out of it.
Selling it on the commercial market, on the other hand, accomplishes two things. First, it puts some money back into the university, which might allow for more research for the taxpayer dollars (cool, right?). Second, it offers improved chances that the patents might actually turn into real stuff now that the owners of it have both a commercial interest and temporary exclusivity.
So, in other words bought and paid for by the taxpayer, and sold to the highest bidder on the commercial market.
So much for encouraging use of this stuff. It'll be priced right out of the market because it's "green".