From the point of view of a university or research institution, the financial appeal of a successful biotech company is obvious. But there are other potential benefits as well. Molecular biologist Jerry Yin, formerly of CSHL but now at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, describes former CSHL director Jim Watson’s realization that encouraging scientists to turn their science into intellectual property and start companies could be a way to retain top researchers. “Because the way he had it done was that when you start the company, some part of the startup money comes to the lab to do the science. It’s a totally outside-of-NIH source of revenue that you could open up… You could have your cake and eat it too. You could have your NIH funding” alongside any money from venture capital.
