Large scientific facilities in all domains of science, are looking at cooperation between science and the industry to alleviate their increasing financial constraints, as proprietary research proposals are charged a price for the time-use of the facility. We argue that present practices to determine those prices are completely ad hoc and thus, not based in any economic rationality. This paper presents several alternative pricing mechanisms based on three economic concepts: willingness to pay, social benefits, and opportunity cost. These mechanisms satisfy some desirable properties like publicity, simplicity, and based in well-accepted economic principles.

Large scientific facilities in all domains of science, are looking at cooperation between science and the industry to alleviate their increasing financial constraints, as proprietary research proposals are charged a price for the time-use of the facility. We argue that present practices to determine those prices are completely ad hoc and thus, not based in any economic rationality. This paper presents several alternative pricing mechanisms based on three economic concepts: willingness to pay, social benefits, and opportunity cost. These mechanisms satisfy some desirable properties like publicity, simplicity, and based in well-accepted economic principles.