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A comment on University of California launches $250M fund for student startups on campus. Parent comment

Re:University of California launches $250M fund for student ... by dragonwriter on Tuesday December 15, 2015 @07:34PM (#10741551)
> 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?

I'm not sure why these are particular concerns with a venture fund backed by the University's investment office focused on endeavors emerging from the university community (faculty, staff, and alumni.) They are issues that, to the extent that they exist with such a venture, exist whenever students and faculty members are involved in business ventures (no matter whether they receive funding for those ventures from a university-affiliated venture fund), and are quite likely already addressed in university academic ethics and conduct rules.

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Re:University of California launches $250M fund for student ... by noddingham on Wednesday December 16, 2015 @04:26PM (#10747476)
Agreed. While the method may be new (a university fund specifically dedicated to startups), the fact is that academic research has led to the creation of companies, patents, etc., in other fields for decades now. TFA: "The University of California has been granted more patents than any other university in the world and has over 30 accelerators and incubators. More than 800 startups with UC patents have been founded since 1980."

And it probably won't be 19yo students, it will be graduate, PhD, and post-docs, many of whom are actively trying to find the next big thing in their field.

Doesn't seem like much news here other than good press for the UC system, and good on them for making dollars easier to get besides trying for an NSF grant.

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