Why not simply ban conflicts outright?
A major source of new ideas and intellectual stimulation comes from the dialogue between academics and their counterparts in industry. A core mission of the university is to foster the transfer of knowledge to the private sector in order for it to be translated into useful products. Two important means of accomplishing this include consulting and the commercialization of technologies derived from faculty research. Companies licensing those technologies need the guidance of the inventor(s) to learn how best to use and develop the technology. Faculty members accomplish this through consulting activities. Thus, conflicts of interest are common and practically unavoidable in a modern research university if we want to have the highest level of research dialogue and the most efficient transfer of basic discoveries into practical improvements for the population.
