
University of California launches $250M fund for student startups on campus - littletimmy
http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/15/university-of-california-launches-250-million-venture-fund/
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littletimmy
IMO, this is really concerning. A university, as an institution, is very
different from a tech incubator. It is a place that should be somewhat removed
from the commercial world where the idealists have a space to explore their
interests without being subject to in-your-face money-making activity.

This also introduces a lot of complications. Say a professor starts a company,
is it ethical for him to ask students to work for him? If a student starts a
company, and an influential professor wants a board seat, can the 19yo student
comfortably say no?

~~~
lint_roller
Universities are already pre-professional for the vast majority of students. I
think the idea of a university being a place of exploration and self-discovery
is a lofty ideal of a bygone era for all but children of the upper middle
class and wealthy. College used to be more optional; today it's practically a
prerequisite for a middle class lifestyle.

~~~
matthewbauer
Except it really isn't any more. If all you want is a job, there are tons of
resources online that will give you much more practical experience than
universities. All that it's really missing is some accreditation for employers
to use to filter out the talent from the dead weight. University idealism is
alive and well I think if you look past the undergraduate programs you'd
agree.

~~~
raziel2701
If all you want is a job then this will be easier if your diploma says UC
Berkeley vs self-taught. We can split hairs all day about exceptional cases of
people being great at something without a formal education but for the great
majority of people a college degree is simply the new minimal education that
employers are seeking.

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DanFeldman
This is good. Berkeley's startup ecosystem is lacking compared to Stanford and
MIT, I can only imagine its worse at the other UCs. While more specified
programs to encourage students to build and try something would be ideal,
funding alone is a solid step forward.

~~~
kelukelugames
As grad of Berkeley and MIT, I'm curious why you think Cal's is lacking to
MIT?

This assertion contradicts both data and anecdotes.

~~~
beambot
Links to data would be appreciated... rather than just saying "data
contradicts this."

~~~
kelukelugames
[http://readwrite.com/2012/12/03/one-university-to-rule-
them-...](http://readwrite.com/2012/12/03/one-university-to-rule-them-all-
stanfurd-tops-startup-list)

[http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/techflash/2015/10/vc...](http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/techflash/2015/10/vc-
joanne-chen-on-how-shes-helping-berkeley-catch.html)

[http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2015/04/uc-
berk...](http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2015/04/uc-berkeley-
stanfurd-startups.html)

A lot of these "rankings" has Stanfurd, Cal, MIT or Stanfurd, MIT, Cal.

The one data point I can't find anymore is VC money raised. It's basically
Stanfurd >> Cal >> everyone else.

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dude01
How much evidence of a bubble do we need? When even universities get into the
incubator business...

~~~
secondtimeuse
Universities have always been in the incubator business. The bubble actually
forces universities to be more transparent about their IP licensing policies.
Do read how Netscape was rewritten due to licensing issues. There is a reason
why UIUC gets a bad rep. If anything this is good side effect of bubble, since
it forces universities to re-examine their licensing practises and invent new
IP models that distinguish between software and medical drug/device
inventions.

" University of Illinois v. Andreessen (1994) - The web revolution began at
the University of Illinois with the first graphics based browser, Mosaic, but
few are aware of its history. The open source code which spawned both Netscape
and Internet Explorer was created by graduate students using open source code.
The university sued the students for trademark infringement in an attempt to
capture royalties even though the source code was available for free on the
web. The developers offered the university shares in the newly launched
Netscape which would have netted UL over $8 million. Instead, the university
chose a prolonged legal battle which was settled for $2.7 million, bankrupted
Netscape, allowed Microsoft Explorer to capture the browser market and left
University of Illinois out of the legacy of the innovation. "

[http://www.ipadvocate.org/forum/dispute.cfm?Type=Disputes](http://www.ipadvocate.org/forum/dispute.cfm?Type=Disputes)

[http://markvillacampa.com/2014/01/13/the-day-i-learned-
about...](http://markvillacampa.com/2014/01/13/the-day-i-learned-about-mosaic-
from-marc-andreessen/)

~~~
alexophile
I'm still having trouble nailing down the timeline on this, but it seems like,
at some point there were two companies, both with access to the mosaic source
and both rebuilding it from scratch. One of those companies had licensed it,
the other hadn't. Obviously there's more to it than that, but in 1994, I can
see how this would look to lawyers.

That said, I think public university research should all be public domain so
we avoid this entirely, but there's a whole waterfall of other problems that
come with that.

Also, as a graduate of UIUC, I'm curious about this bad rep. I know their
entrepreneurship initiatives are pretty dismal but I still don't understand
why that's a uni's job. All the cs/engineers that graduated when I did went
straight into great jobs.

~~~
drumdance
Netscape didn't want to pay the fee, Spyglass did.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyglass,_Inc](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyglass,_Inc).

