Although this would entail adjustments to traditional
relations between university faculty and industry,
it would increase the transparency of technology
transfers and make collection of data on such transfers
considerably easier. However, it would be important
to limit clearly the criteria for classifying
inventions as national inventions and to ensure that,
except in rare cases, such classifications be made prospectively,
at the beginning of research projects,
rather than retrospectively, once inventions have occurred
and their commercial potential is apparent.