Open science versus commercialization: a modern research conflict?

We present selected guidelines from three countries (Canada, United States, and United Kingdom) situated at the forefront of genomics to illustrate this potential policy conflict. Examining the innovation ecosystem and the messages conveyed by the different policies surveyed, we further investigate the inconsistencies between open science and commercialization policies.Commercialization and open science are not necessarily irreconcilable and could instead be envisioned as complementary elements of a more holistic innovation framework. Given the exploratory nature of our study, we wish to point out the need to gather additional evidence on the coexistence of open science and commercialization policies and on its impact, both positive and negative, on genomics academic research.Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1949), Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), and Article 15 of the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (2005) all articulate the obligation to share scientific knowledge and the right to share in the benefits of scientific knowledge. But like the concept of 'benefit sharing', the idea of optimally sharing and maximally utilising scientific knowledge is fraught with complexity, confusion, and policies at seemingly stark cross-purposes. The matter is further complicated by the fact that research is becoming more expensive, research structures are growing more complex and fractured, and innovation levels, at least in the pharmaceutical setting, are not increasing [1].Efforts to meet these legally mandated needs and to simultaneously improve research outcomes have resulted in researchers being confronted with complex and seemingly contradictory instructions about how to perform their tasks. This is particularly vexing for university-based genomics researchers. On the one hand, they are told to commercialize their research by patenting, licensing, and forming close partn