I’m a firm believer that any sort of fundamental research and their outcomes should be owned by the public. We may have to contract a company to build the thing, but the knowledge should be free for all.
Then what incentive is there for investment into R&D if it doesn’t give a competitive advantage? Patents are designed to encourage investment by providing a monopoly for an exclusive time only - we can debate how long that should be - but the fundamental fact is that without patents innovation slows greatly