Faculty
Gregory D. Graff
Assistant Professor
Ph.D.: University of California, Berkeley
Location: B306 Clark Bldg.
Telephone: (970) 491-4028
E-mail:
Research Interests:
My research interests concern the policy and economics of scientific research, technological innovation, and entrepreneurship. Within the context of agriculture and resources, questions of technology and innovation cut broadly and include changes in industry structure, economic development, global trade, and, reciprocally, influences back on the formation of government science and technology policies. Of particular interest is the role played by intellectual property rights--as incentives for innovation and as marketable assets, but also as a source of transaction costs and inefficiencies in R&D in areas where common access problems may arise. Similarly important is the process of technology transfer, whereby, in the U.S. and many other countries, publicly subsidized research generates private economic activity, seeding the entry of new process technologies, new products, new firms, and, occasionally, even entire new industries. A major theme in my work is the balance or tradeoff between the sometimes complementary and sometimes contradictory public versus private characteristics of knowledge as an economic good or asset. My empirical analysis focuses on the relationship between public and private sector innovation in the life sciences for applications in agriculture, medicine, and energy.
Courses:
AREC 478 - Agricultural Policy
Selected Publications, Presentations and Projects:
Publications
Karl Bergman and Gregory Graff, “The Global Stem Cell Patent Landscape: Implications for Efficient Technology Transfer and Commercial Development” Nature Biotechnology, Vol. 25, No. 4 (April 2007), pp. 419-425. [article link http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v25/n4/abs/nbt0407-419.html]
Gregory Graff, “Echoes of Bayh-Dole: A Survey of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Policies in Emerging and Developing Economies” in A. Krattiger, R. Mahoney, L. Nelsen, et al, Eds., Intellectual Property Management in Health and Agricultural Innovation: A Handbook of Best Practices. (MIHR: Oxford, UK and PIPRA: Davis, CA. 2007), pp. 169-196.
Gregory Graff and David Zilberman, “The Political Economy of Intellectual Property: Re-Examining European Policy on Plant Biotechnology” in J. Kesan, Ed., Seeds of Change: Intellectual Property Protection for Agricultural Biotechnologies, (Wallingford, UK: CABI Press, 2007)
Gregory Graff, David Roland-Holst, and David Zilberman, “Biotechnology and Poverty Reduction in Low-Income Countries,” World Development, Vol. 34, No. 8 (2006): 1430-1445. [article link http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VC6-4KHC3GD-1/2/3b15e9dc780e43b00c156ad251b8d3f3]
Gregory Graff, Gordon Rausser, and Arthur Small, “Agricultural Biotechnology's Complementary Intellectual Assets,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 85, No.2, (May 2003), pp. 349-363. [article link http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/003465303765299864]
Gregory Graff, Amir Heiman, and David Zilberman, “University Research and Offices of Technology Transfer,” California Management Review, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Fall 2002), pp. 89-115. [article link http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=CMR243]
Gregory Graff and David Zilberman, “An Intellectual Property Clearinghouse for Agricultural Biotechnology,” Nature Biotechnology, Vol. 19 (December 2001), pp. 1179-1180. [article link http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v19/n12/abs/nbt1201-1179.html]
Presentations
Freedom to Operate, IPRs, and Alternative Structures for Financing and Research, presentation for Food and Fuel: The Implications for Agricultural Research Policy, Canadian Agriculture Innovation Research Network (CAIRN) conference, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, June 4-6, 2007. [streaming presentation link http://www.kis.usask.ca/Presentations/Graff_Flash_640x480/Graff_Greg.html]
An Intellectual Property Clearinghouse: Facilitating Access to Public Sector IP for Product Development of Drugs for Neglected Diseases, presentation for session on Product Development Partnerships for Global Health, Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) 2007 Annual Meetings, Orlando, FL, March 3, 2006.
New Waves of Technology in Agriculture, presentation for Extreme Technology workshop, Western Growers’ Association 80th Annual Meetings, San Diego, CA, November 15, 2005.
The Impact of Blocking Patents on Innovation in Soy Genetics, presentation to the United Soybean Board Competitiveness Committee, Fiscal Year 2006 Planning Meeting, L’Enfant Plaza Hotel, Washington DC, July 25-26, 2005.
The Division of Innovative Labor between Universities, Entrepreneurs, and Corporate R&D, paper presented at the CIP Symposium 2004, Center for Intellectual Property (CIP), Chalmers Institute of Technology and Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden, June 1-3, 2004.
Empirical Views of Public Sector Patenting and Technology Transfer in Agriculture: the Case for the Public Sector Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture (PIPRA), presentation to the interim Science Council of the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) meeting at UC Berkeley, August 30, 2003.
The Sources of Biological Innovation for Agriculture: the Comparative Advantages of Universities, Entrepreneurs, and Corporate R&D, 6th annual International Consortium on Agricultural Biotechnology Research (ICABR) conference, Ravello, Italy, July 12, 2002.
Public Sector Intellectual Property Management for Agricultural R&D, Rockefeller Foundation, New York City, May 20, 2002.
Projects
"Intellectual Property and U.S. Public Investments in Research on Biofuel Technologies" (with A. Bennett, S. Boettiger, and K. Jensen), ELSI-DOE, $341,487, Sept. 2007-Sept. 2009.
Base Appointment:
Resident Instruction, Research, and Outreach