Andrew Geim explains why Graphene is not patented

In an interview from 2010 Andre Geim mentions why Graphene isn't patented.

We considered patenting; we prepared a patent and it was nearly filed. Then I had an interaction with a big, multinational electronics company. I approached a guy at a conference and said, "We've got this patent coming up, would you be interested in sponsoring it over the years?" It's quite expensive to keep a patent alive for 20 years. The guy told me, "We are looking at graphene, and it might have a future in the long term. If after ten years we find it's really as good as it promises, we will put a hundred patent lawyers on it to write a hundred patents a day, and you will spend the rest of your life, and the gross domestic product of your little island, suing us." That's a direct quote.

I considered this arrogant comment, and I realized how useful it was. There was no point in patenting graphene at that stage. You need to be specific: you need to have a specific application and an industrial partner. Unfortunately, in many countries, including this one, people think that applying for a patent is an achievement. In my case it would have been a waste of taxpayers' money.

Long term the lack of a patent will only help to encourage innovation with Graphene, and will allow companies to find currently unimaginable uses.

UK Govt Squandering Science Funds

In a letter to the The Daily Telegraph a group of scientists including Sir Andrew Geim accuse the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of interferign with funding for science projects to meet policy objectives.

“The EPSRC is no longer allocating funds on a fair and transparent basis,” the letter says. “Excellence is a secondary consideration. The wealth of talent following new ideas, which could and would compete for such funding, is being side-lined on the whims of administrators. Non-competitive processes, in whatever arena, are a poor investment and such misuse of public funds is deeply worrying.”

This letter is arriving on the same day that another group of another 100 scientists are delivering a coffin to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to protest the death of science.

Sir Andre Geim is Knighted

Already a Nobel laureate, Sir Andrew Geim, one of the original discoverers of Graphene has now been Knighted.

Sir Andre Geim, the scientist from the University of Manchester who discovered the "wonder material" graphene with colleague Professor Konstantin Novoselov, has been awarded a knighthood.

 I'm surprised it took 8 years, but apparently the Queen is a bit slow in her advanced age.