BRUSSELS - A good 15 percent of all spending within research and development in Flemish higher education comes from companies. Private companies finance research projects and doctorates and purchase licenses. But the line between close cooperation and conflict of interest between university and company is sometimes wafer-thin.
Yet the Belgian code of ethics for scientific research is clear: research must be independent and transparent. Citizens, who pay taxes for higher education, count on the university to serve the public interest, and not that of the commercial companies with which it collaborates. But is there still room for that interest? That is what Charlotte Teunis and Marie-Monique Franssen are investigating in this project.
ONLINE
- Universiteit en industrie slaan de handen in elkaar, Knack.be, 18/05/2023.