Abstract

This paper explores the increasing trend towards the commodification of public research and development (R&D) and the impact of this on social wellbeing. In many developed countries, the changes introduced by governments to funding mechanisms for universities and public research institutions has led to a fundamental shift in the focus of public R&D. The focus has shifted from creating useful public, codifiable knowledge to creating a knowledge commodity driven by commercial imperatives. Although there may be an economic argument to be made for the virtues of such change, we argue here that the potential costs to social wellbeing have been largely, and dangerously, ignored