Late last week, Penn State announced "significant changes to its intellectual property policies." Here's more:

That sounds familiar. A week before, the University of Minnesota made a similar announcement. I wrote that:

The goal with both strategies is to encourage more business-backed research.

The Penn State press release notes that there is much to be gained from relationships with the business community beyond potential royalties. The U's Tim Mulcahy made a similar argument before the Board of Regents.

Could this be the start of a trend?