With WARF, Wisconsin remains a patent powerhouse: BTN LiveBIG

In 1925, an enterprising University of Wisconsin professor by the name of Harry Steenbock decided to buck an unofficial tradition of leaving university-based inventions and discoveries unpatented. With $300 from his own pocket, Steenbock filed for and was granted a patent for his process of using UV radiation to enrich foodstuffs with Vitamin D.

Wanting to help his fellow faculty and staff researchers protect their own patentable work, Steenbock and Harry L. Russell, dean of the College of Agriculture, and Charles Sumner Slichter, dean of the Graduate School, worked to create an organization that could serve as a patent holder for university work. Named for the 6 alumni who sat on its inaugural board, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, or WARF, was born.

Since its inception, WARF has helped shepherd a number of valuable ideas through the rigorous patent process, giving rise to funding that has helped the University of Wisconsin remain a leading research university...

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Ken Notes: WARF is one of Wisconsin`s greatest assets. I would love to see initiatives to keep the ideas closer to home but would not dream of getting in the way of this powerful economic engine. I even get nervous writing about WARF because I fear the day the legislature gets involved.