Public post-secondary institutions are responsible for delivering both high-quality education and research in the public interest. This responsibility requires the right for academic researchers to exercise independent inquiry that is free of influence or restrictions from both the government and private industry. Over the last two decades, there has been increasing pressure from the private sector to re-shape the mission of the university to be more closely aligned with the needs of business. In the area of university research, this has led to a premium placed on research commercialisation. This shift in focus of publicly- funded institutions is a significant departure from the academic principle of independence on which universities have operated for centuries.

The commercialisation of university research refers to the conversion of new knowledge into "intellectual property" which is then transferred from universities to the marketplace. In other words, commercialisation refers to the transformation of ideas and inventions into products that have market value. Prior to the 1980s, universities played a minimal role in the commercial application of discoveries and ideas. However, over the past decade federal policies and initiatives have introduced generous incentives for universities to produce and sell commercially viable research. Government incentives include directed research funding to projects or disciplines with identified commercial potential.

 This is commonly facilitated by establishing new bureaucracies, both in government and on campus, to integrate the university's research goals with the goals of corporate sponsors.1 Integral to the commercialisation of university research is "technology transfer", a process by which university research is licensed or patented and sold off to the private sector. The university bureaucracy has expanded significantly in recent years to take on a new role in the administration of technology transfer. "Spin off" companies are regularly created by universities and university researchers to market research discoveries.

The commercialisation of university research almost exclusively emphasises applied scientific research and development in a narrow range of fields such as pharmaceutical science, biotechnology, medical diagnostics, electronics, animal science, and plant sciences.