Antecedents of corporate spin-offs in Spain: A resource-based approach

We explore the antecedents of corporate spin-offs for a sample of 3462 Spanish firms between 1992 and 2002. Using a resource-based approach, we identify three reasons firms engage in spin-offs: (a) to create complementarities, (b) to appropriate residual rents, and (c) to focus on the core business. Specifically, we find that spin-offs are more common among firms that belong to a group able to create networks and new knowledge that can be exploited through spin-offs. In addition, we find that spin-offs are more frequent in firms that wish to exploit strategic advantages achieved through knowledge investments and in firms that increase efforts to the focus on the parent firm's core competences.     

解读美日研究型大学衍生企业及对我国的启示

研究型大学衍生企业在全球范围内已经有力地促进了经济的发展和提供了充足的就业机会。然而,由于研究型大学在人才、科学研究和技术开发等方面的优势,人们期望充分发挥其潜力,并且通过衍生科技型企业的方式为国家经济和科技发展做出更为直接的贡献。本文分析美国和日本衍生企业的产生背景,发展状况,相应地调查和研究我国的情况,针对存在的问题,提出可能的解决方法。     

Mid-range universities’ linkages with industry: Knowledge types and the role of intermediaries

We analyze how mid-range universities can contribute to industrial change through the transfer of tacit and codified knowledge in the areas of spin-offs; licensing and patents; contract research, consultancy and reach-out; and graduate and researcher mobility. We use archival, survey and interview data relating to mid-range universities in mid-range environments in the UK, Belgium, Germany and Sweden. Our findings suggest that mid-range universities primarily need to focus on generating world-class research and critical mass in areas of expertise, as well as developing different types of intermediaries. Mid-range universities may need to develop a portfolio of university-industry linkages in terms of the scope of activities and the types of firms with which they interact. We also show that different intermediaries have important roles to play in developing university-industry linkages for mid-range universities.     

大企业衍生创业对创业集群形成的影响研究

提出"大企业衍生创业"的概念,并构建以创业能力形成为中心环节的衍生创业的过程模型;在文献分析基础上通过定性分析并辅以案例验证,认为大企业衍生创业是产业相关企业不断创建产生并最终推动集群形成的重要动因;建立以大企业衍生创业为核心的集群形成解释模型,并据此提出通过创业-集群的方法来促进区域经济成长和创新发展的政策建议。     

University capabilities in facilitating entrepreneurship: A longitudinal study of spin-off ventures at mid-range universities

This paper investigated how universities facilitate the process of spin-off venture formation based on academic research. Building on a capability perspective, we add to the literature on university characteristics and resources by exploring how the university context impacts the entrepreneurial process. We based our study on two mid-range universities and followed the start-up process of four spin-off ventures. Based on the results of our longitudinal study, we propose a set of three university capabilities that facilitate the venture-formation process: (1) creating new paths of action, (2) balancing both academic and commercial interests, and (3) integrating new resources. Each capability is particularly important for specific phases in the venturing process. Our findings suggest that these capabilities are dependent on prior spin-off experience and reside within several actors both inside and outside of the university. Furthermore, universities with weaknesses in the identified areas can take strategic action to develop these capabilities to some degree.     

Opening the ivory tower's door: An analysis of the determinants of the formation of U.S. university spin-off companies

This paper presents findings from an analysis of the determinants of the formation of university spin-off companies within the university's research park. We find that university spin-off companies are a greater proportion of the companies in older parks and in parks that are associated with richer university research environments. We also find that university spin-off companies are a larger proportion of companies in parks that are geographically closer to their university and in parks that have a biotechnology focus.     

多维距离、异质性与技术转移——基于企业技术吸纳视角

基于文献研究,从技术吸纳视角,研究多维距离对企业技术转移的影响,并探究行业类型、企业规模和企业性质等异质性因素对多维距离与企业技术吸纳关系的影响。采用杭州技术交易市场技术吸纳数据分析,研究发现:(1)地理、经济、技术和社会距离均对企业技术吸纳有显著影响,其中技术距离对企业技术吸纳影响最大,其次是地理距离和社会距离,最后是经济距离;(2)技术距离对小规模企业技术吸纳影响最大,而社会距离对大规模企业技术吸纳影响最大;(3)技术距离对非高新技术企业技术吸纳影响最大,而社会距离对高新技术企业技术吸纳影响最大。     

Serendipity: Towards a taxonomy and a theory

Serendipity, the notion of researchers making unexpected and beneficial discoveries, has played an important role in debates about the feasibility and desirability of targeting public R&D investments. The purpose of this paper is to show that serendipity can come in different forms and come about in a variety of ways. The archives of Robert K Merton, who introduced the term to the social sciences, were used as a starting point for gathering literature and examples. I identify four types of serendipity (Walpolian, Mertonian, Bushian, Stephanian) together with four mechanisms of serendipity (Theory-led, Observer-led, Error-borne, Network-emergent). I also discuss implications of the different types and mechanisms for theory and policy.     

The expanding role of university patenting in the life sciences: assessing the importance of experience and connectivity

We extend debates about the sources of university capabilities at research commercialization. Drawing upon quantitative data for a panel of 89 research-intensive US universities and interview data from two academic licensing offices, we model the relationship between technology transfer experience, embeddedness in biotechnology industry networks, basic science quality and capacity, and citation impact measures of university life science patents. Technology licensing officers draw upon the expertise of corporate partners to evaluate the potential impact of invention disclosures. The information gleaned through network ties to industry enables well-connected institutions to develop higher impact patent portfolios. Reaping the benefits of such connections, however, requires experience in balancing academic and corporate priorities to avoid the danger of ‘capture’ by industrial interests as overly tight connections limit patent impact. This pattern of diminishing returns to connectivity is robust across multiple citation measures of patent quality.     

Objectives, agreements and matching in science-industry collaborations: reassembling the pieces of the puzzle

Science-industry collaborations have been the subject of a considerable attention in the last few years. The paper argues that, however, the existing studies are still restricted to a partial view of the phenomenon. In this respect, our study departs from the specialised literature by taking into consideration, for a given set of heterogeneous collaborations, information from both the academics’ and the firms’ side, relative to their characteristics, their aims and the collaboration settings. To do so, we constructed a database of 46 collaborations from original data we collected, in several European countries and in the US, within the SESI-TSER project. The first outcome of our study is a typology of science-industry collaborations built on a formal procedure (a multi-correspondence analysis followed by an ascendant hierarchical classification) exhibiting five coherent types of collaborations that we describe precisely. Highlighting the crucial importance of research agendas, we thus propose a simple rationale for the matching process. The latter leads us to propose an “assortative” matching hypothesis generating two polar configurations which we test and confirm. Finally, we examine the policy implications of the findings.     

Close enough but not too far: Assessing the effects of university-industry research relationships and the rise of academic capitalism

Analysts assessing the impact of university-industry research relations (UIRRs) and increasing proprietary behavior on the part of universities often focus on single-indicators or adopt promotional or critical stances. However, assessing impacts of shifts toward a more proprietary university is inherently complex because of potential countervailing or mediating factors within working relationships. From interviews with 84 biological scientists at nine universities we find scientists view UIRRS and university intellectual property (IP) policies in complex and often conflicting ways. For example, university scientists believe UIRRs are valuable for increasing contact with scientists, but are problematic because working with industry can restrict communication among scientists. Also scientists believe university IP policies should shield their work from opportunistic behavior and at the same time be designed to attract industry partners. In addition scientists believe universities use their IP policies primarily as revenue raising vehicles and secondarily to address public good issues such as technology transfer.     

Inside the Anticommons: Academic scientists’ struggle to build a commercially self-supporting human mutations database, 1999-2001

According to proponents of ‘the tragedy of the Anticommons’ hypothesis, resources with fragmented ownership are often under-exploited. This paper describes how approximately 100 academic biologists tried to trade their data for corporate support of a worldwide Depository for human mutations data. Although the group obtained a $ 2.3 million offer, it became deadlocked in trying to respond. Analysis of this failure suggests that Anticommons effects exist in biotechnology. Deadlock occurred because most members could not afford the information costs needed to reach a decision. Project advocates tried to reduce the Anticommons effects by making information easier to obtain. Opponents added to the information burden of members by making assertions that could not easily be checked.     

Creative adaptation: the role of new technology based firms in Portugal

This paper reviews two recent research studies on Portuguese New Technology Based Firms (NTBFs). Attention is given to the role and contribution of NTBFs to innovation. The main argument is that, by and large, NTBFs are less concerned with the introduction of major innovations and more with creative adaptive improvements to products and services based upon new technologies first introduced elsewhere. The empirical research found that Portuguese NTBFs are a recent phenomenon associated with diffusion of Electronics and Information Technologies (EIT) during the late 1980s. They perform a wide variety of knowledge-intensive activities, which enhance local users' adoption processes and they are associated with different forms of technology transfer through external linkages. Overall, NTBFs undertake a frequently unobserved role as technology searchers and acquirers that, pushed by idiosyncratic local niche market opportunities, selectively choose among and enhance technologies developed elsewhere, introducing them into the local market.     

基于技术转移本质与特征的中国技术转移发展对策研究

目前缺乏从技术转移本质与特征理论视角研究技术转移发展对策,为此,系统分析技术转移的驱动因素、运动机理、构成要素与过程等4个本质维度,以及利益性、势差性和重复性等3个特征维度,比较研究美国、日本和韩国的技术转移发展实践。研究显示,美日韩政府在技术转移过程中起引导作用,通过制定和实施相关法案、法律和计划等,保护有关参与者利益,制约技术转移的无限制重复;长期稳定的较高水平R&D投入产生大量可供转移转化的技术成果,并在国家宏观层面整合的科研机构的共同作用下形成技术转移势差;通过建立区域技术转移中心、大学专利技术转移组织、技术创新中心和技术商业孵化器等形式的技术转移机构,促进技术转移多主体联合,驱动技术转移运动。最后借鉴发达国家经验,构建技术转移逻辑框架,提出加强政府引导与制度创新等推动中国技术转移的对策建议。     

制度比较视角下研究型大学技术转移的优化设计

从制度视角探讨西方发达国家以及我国研究型大学技术转移的相关政策和制度设计,重点分析我国在政府引导机制、转化模式以及实践经验方面与发达国家的差异,指出目前我国研究型大学技术转移率低、转化规模小的问题,并就其原因进行分析,为优化我国研究型大学技术转移模式及支撑体系提出可供参考的对策建议。     

The appropriation of conversational AI in the workplace: A taxonomy of AI chatbot users

There is an exponential growth of the use of AI applications in organisations. Due to the machine learning capability of artificial intelligence (AI) applications, it is critical that such systems are used continuously in order to generate rich use data that allow them to learn, evolve and mature into a better fit for their user and organisational context. This research focuses on the actual use of conversational AI, in particular AI chatbot, as one type of workplace AI application to answer the research question: how do employees experience the use of an AI chatbot in their day-to-day work? Through a qualitative case study of a large international organisation and by performing an inductive analysis, the research uncovers the different ways in which users appropriate the AI chatbot and identifies two key dimensions that determine their type of use: the dominant mode of interaction and the understanding of the AI chatbot technology. Based on these dimensions, a taxonomy of users is presented, which classifies users of AI chatbots into four types: early quitters, pragmatics, progressives, and persistents. The findings contribute to the understanding of how conversational AI, particularly AI chatbots, is used in organisations and pave the way for further research in this regard. The implications for practice are also discussed.     

Institutional changes and the commercialization of academic knowledge: A study of Italian universities’ patenting activities between 1965 and 2002

This paper focuses on Italian universities’ patenting activities between 1965 and 2002 and on the way they were affected by internal IPR regulations, set as part of broader responses to the increased level of autonomy granted to universities during the 1990s. Our analyses are based on a unique dataset including detailed information on all patents filed by Italian universities and university-level characteristics. Results show that: (1) in the last 10 years, the number of Italian university patents rose substantially; (2) patenting activities almost tripled in universities with an internal IPR regulation, after controlling for several universities’ characteristics, previous patenting activity and time trends; (3) each time a university creates its own patent regulation, there is a 9% increase in the likelihood that universities without any internal patent regulation will adopt one. Implications for university technology transfer policies are discussed.     

University licensing and the flow of scientific knowledge

As university involvement in technology transfer and entrepreneurship has increased, concerns over the patenting and licensing of scientific discoveries have grown. This paper examines the effect that the licensing of academic patents has on journal citations to academic publications covering the same scientific research. We analyze data on invention disclosures, patents, and licenses from the University of California, a leading U.S. academic patenter and licensor, between 1997 and 2007. We also develop a novel “inventor-based” maximum-likelihood matching technique to automate and generalize Murray's (2002) “patent-paper pairs” methodology. We use this methodology to identify the scientific publications associated with University of California patents and licenses.Based on a “difference-in-differences” analysis, we find that within our sample of patented academic discoveries, citations to licensed patent-linked publications are higher in the three years after the license, although this difference is not statistically significant. We then disaggregate our sample into (a) patented discoveries that are likely to be used as “research tools” by other researchers (based on the presence of material transfer agreements (MTAs) that cover them) and (b) patented discoveries not covered by MTAs. Citations to publications linked to licensed patents in the latter subset (not covered by MTAs) are higher for publications linked to licensed patents, and this difference is statistically significant. In contrast, licensing of patented discoveries that are also research tools is associated with a reduction in citations to papers linked to these research advances, raising the possibility that licensing may restrict the flow of inputs to “follow-on” scientific research.     

技术联盟知识转移影响因素概念模型研究

本文从知识转移的过程理论出发,针对技术联盟的组织形式和特点,提出了技术联盟知识转移过程模式。在具体分析了技术联盟过程中知识转移效果的影响因素的基础上,进一步研究了各影响因素与知识转移效果的关系,从逻辑上推证出具有实证意义的8个子命题,建立了技术联盟影响因素概念模型,为技术联盟知识转移影响因素的实证研究奠定了基础。     

国外大学技术成果转移实践借鉴与思考

技术成果转移一直是我国高校科技工作的重点,也是难点。本文介绍了国外大学技术成果转移相关法律、技术成果转移的特征以及技术成果转移机构设置等。总结了国外大学技术成果转移实践对我国高校技术成果转移的借鉴与思考。