[tomatodevice]

I've seen it a few times and I still don't understand how we can allow such blatant conflict of interests at the management level...

[pca006132]

It seems to me that from the university's standpoint, a company is considered a plus instead of corruption, i.e. have "real-world" impact, and perhaps the university will have a stake in the company as well (not sure about this). If so, it is a win-win situation for both the university management and the professor, only the student lose, and who cares about that little grad student?

[ghaff]

Typically not a stake that I know of but a school like MIT makes a lot of money from technology licensing.

[mrobins]

Is this where “tech transfer” comes in and the University gets a piece of the departing business or a perpetual licensing agreement?

[BeetleB]

Universities often benefit from it financially. There almost always is an agreement between the professor and the university.

[tough]

Everyone makes money?