30 years after Bayh–Dole: Reassessing academic entrepreneurship

On the 30th anniversary of enactment of the Bayh–Dole Act in the U.S., we consider the rationale for academic entrepreneurship and describe the evolving role of universities in the commercialization of research. We also discuss and appraise the effects of legislative reform in several OECD countries relating to academic entrepreneurship. The article synthesizes papers from the special section and outlines an agenda for additional research on various aspects of academic entrepreneurship in terms of system, university and individual levels. We also consider measurement and methodological issues that must be addressed in additional research.     

高校科研人员专利行为对学术影响力的实证研究

当前我国高校科研人员的专利行为快速增长,如何有效平衡学术研究的公共属性和专利行为的私权属性是高校面临的重要问题。以2008-2017年112所“211”高校及省部级共建高校多专业科研人员的专利行为和学术影响力相关数据构建研究数据库,综合运用负二项回归和二元Logistics回归,实证分析高校科研人员专利行为在“申请-授权”和“授权-交易”两阶段特征对其学术影响力的影响效应。研究表明：高校科研人员的专利申请数量与学术影响力之间存在显著的倒U型关系,随着专利申请数的增加,学术影响力受到的正向影响会增加,当专利申请数达到年均35项左右时,出现负向影响;当高校科研人员采用独占许可进行专利交易时,学术影响力会受到显著的抑制效应。为我国高校专利的全过程管理和相关政策制定提供了参考依据。     

Managing competences in entrepreneurial technology firms: a comparative institutional analysis of Germany, Sweden and the UK

Innovating firms in new industries face a number of technological and market risks, especially appropriability and competence destruction. However, the relative significance of these varies between different sub-sectors, and so do managerial ways of dealing with them. These in turn are influenced by institutional frameworks, particularly those governing skill formation systems and labour markets. Consequently, the relative success of firms in fields with different appropriability and competence destruction risks is likely to vary between countries with contrasting patterns of labour market organisation. In the biotechnology and computer software industries, there are major differences in the dominant risks faced by innovating firms such that we would expect their relative success to differ between Germany, Sweden and the UK. While the UK and, to a limited extent, Sweden, have developed institutions similar to those found in the US that help govern “radically innovative” firm competences, Germany has invested in institutional frameworks associated with “competency enhancing” human resource practices that give its firms an advantage in more generic technologies in which organisational complexity is higher. While the distribution of public companies across sub-sectors broadly follows these expectations, Sweden has developed considerable strength in middleware software. This results from changing property rights and personnel policies at Ericsson.     

Has the Bayh-Dole act compromised basic research?

We examine three hypotheses regarding the effects of the Bayh-Dole Act on research effort of faculty. The first hypothesis we call the status quo hypothesis and it asserts that there has been no effect on research profiles. The second hypothesis, which we call the negative hypothesis, asserts that faculty have been diverted from their traditional role in basic research toward research with more commercial potential. Our final hypothesis is derived from prior theoretical work that suggests that both basic and applied research is greater when faculty can benefit from commercialization of their research effort; we refer to this as the positive hypothesis. The data we examine are the research and invention disclosure of faculty at 8 US universities over the period 1983–1999. Using a citation based measure of basic research publications we relate basic research effort to invention disclosures. Our findings are clear in that they do not show any support for the negative hypothesis and they show substantially greater support for the positive hypothesis than for the status quo hypothesis.     

R&D internationalization, R&D collaboration and public knowledge institutions in small economies: Evidence from Finland and the Netherlands

This paper investigates domestic and foreign innovating firms’ determinants of R&D collaboration with domestic universities and public knowledge institutes in Finland and the Netherlands. We put particular emphasis on the impact of incoming academic spillovers on the probability to co-operate with these public R&D institutes.Based on data from Community Innovation Surveys we find that foreign firms in the Netherlands are less likely to co-operate with domestic public knowledge institutions than domestic firms, while in Finland no significant difference can be detected. Another result is that incoming knowledge spillovers are an important determinant for R&D collaboration with domestic public knowledge institutions in both countries. In case of foreign firms in Finland, incoming knowledge spillovers affect the probability to co-operate with public knowledge institutions more positively compared to domestic firms. For the Netherlands no substantial difference could be found in this respect. Further, innovating firms in Finland that require academic or basic knowledge do not co-operate significantly more with public knowledge institutions than those that need applied knowledge. At the same time they are willing to share knowledge with public R&D partners. In the Netherlands innovating firms that require relatively more basic than applied knowledge, increase the probability of co-operation with Dutch universities and public knowledge institutions but there is reluctance to share proprietary knowledge with public R&D partners. For both countries no significant difference between foreign and domestic firms with regard to academic knowledge requirements could be found. This raises the issue whether Finnish innovation policies with a strong focus on R&D co-operation provide incentives for strategic behaviour by domestic public partners to put more emphasis on applied research.     

Long-run effects of public-private research joint ventures: The case of the Danish Innovation Consortia support scheme

Subsidized research joint ventures (RJVs) between public research institutions and industry have become increasingly popular in Europe and the US. We study the long-run effects of such a support scheme that has been maintained by the Danish government since 1995. To cope with identification problems we apply nearest neighbor matching and conditional difference-in-difference estimation methods. Our main findings are that (i) program participation effects are instant for annual patent applications and last for three years, (ii) employment effects materialize first after one year and (iii) there are no statistically significant effects on value added or labor productivity. We further show that these overall results are primarily driven by firms that were patent active prior to joining the RJV and that there are no statistically significant effects for large firms. The insignificant results we document for large firms coupled with the fact that these type of firms are over-represented in many support programs, including the one considered here, leads us to suggest a rethinking of support policies that often aim at large firms.     

学术成果商业化过程中的性别差异及其影响因素

随着科技与经济结合日益紧密,大学和科研机构越来越重视学术成果的商业化,学术成果商业化过程中出现的性别分层现象也引起了相关学者的高度关注。本文系统梳理了国内外学者关于学术成果商业化过程中的性别分层现象描述及对其所做出的理论解释和实证研究。进而尝试对现有学术成果商业化性别分层现象的理论解释框架进行扩展,从个体因素、社会结构性影响、组织机构因素和其他因素四个方面梳理性别分层的解释因素。最后,总结了现有研究中存在的局限性并对未来的研究重点与趋势进行展望。     

Patenting and US academic research in the 20th century: The world before and after Bayh-Dole

The dramatic growth of patenting and licensing of publicly funded research by American research universities in the closing quarter of the 20th century has stimulated some of the highest-profile debates in science and technology policy today. The issue of what aspects of academic research should be public - and what private - lies at the heart of each of these debates. The movement of academic scientists into commercialisation of discoveries and inventions has been extolled by some as a new model of academic research, one which facilitates economic and social returns from universities. At the same time, this trend has been criticised by others as representing a socially inefficient ‘privatisation’ of academic research and as a threat to the ethos of science itself. This paper places these debates in historical context, with a review of changes in American universities’ patenting policies, procedures and practices throughout the 20th century, an assessment of the logic underlying the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, and an overview of its effects on economic returns from university research.     

全过程界面管理视阈下新兴产业发展政策研究——鉴于美、日、西欧等发达国家经验

 政府、企业、大学、科研机构、中介服务机构和金融机构是高技术新兴产业创新网络系统的参与主体,它们之间形成了多种管理界面。为了克服界面障碍对高新技术产业化进程带来的阻滞作用,美国、日本、西欧等发达国家针对高新技术产业发展的R&D、商品化、产业化全过程制定实施了多种政策措施,实现了政府的全过程界面管理功能。这些政策措施所构成的三维政策体系空间对我国培育壮大新兴产业提供了借鉴作用。     

Local context,academic entrepreneurship and open science: Publication secrecy and commercial activity among Japanese and US scientists

Like the US before it, Japan has adopted a series of policy initiatives designed to encourage the commercialization of academic science. However, such initiatives may also adversely affect “open-science”. Based on matched surveys of almost 1000 researchers in Japan and over 800 in the US, the paper examines rates of commercial activity, reasons to patent, and secrecy related to research results. In particular, it examines the extent to which participation in commercial activity is associated with publication secrecy. The results show that patenting rates are higher in Japan, while industry funding is more common in the US. In addition, the overall level of publication secrecy is greater in Japan. And, in both countries, individuals who are commercially active are less likely to share their research results through publication. But, patents are less directly linked to commercial activity in Japan than in the US, and have less impact on academic secrecy. The results suggest that academic entrepreneurship is associated with reduced participation in open science, but that the extent of adverse effects depends significantly on institutional context.     

专利收益分配与高校专利运营——基于美国高校样本的系统动力学分析

    高校专利运营是一个包括发明创造、价值增值和价值实现三个主要环节的复杂动态过程。以美国高校为样本,基于动态系统视角分析发明人专利收益分配比例对高校专利运营不同环节的影响,并针对发明人专利收入与科研经费支出对高校专利运营的影响差异进行比较分析。研究发现：近70%的样本高校中发明人专利收入与发明披露量之间不存在显著的相关性;而在发明人专利收入与发明披露量显著相关的高校中,发明人专利收益比例对高校专利运营的发明创造环节作用明显,对价值增值环节作用因样本而异,但对价值实现环节的影响微乎其微;同时,当专利收益分配基数与科研经费支出之间相差悬殊时,与通过提高发明人收益比例增加发明人专利收入相比,同比增加科研经费支出对专利运营各环节的影响更大。一刀切式地提高发明人收益比例对高校专利运营的促进作用十分有限。据此提出,高校应细化发明人收益分配方案,并综合运用多种激励方式,发挥政策协同作用。     

Changes to university IPR regulations in Europe and the impact on academic patenting

This article develops a general framework to describe the changes in university IPR regulations in Europe and their effects on the patenting activities of universities and on knowledge transfer processes. Understanding the effects of changes in IPR regulations on academic patenting is a complex issue, and parallels with the US case can be misleading. First, despite the general trend towards institutional ownership, university IPR regulations in Europe remain extremely differentiated and there is no one-to-one mapping to the US system. Second, it is difficult to disentangle the quantitative and qualitative effects of changes in IPR ownership regulations on academic patenting activities from the effects of concurrent transformations in the institutional, cultural and organizational landscape surrounding academic knowledge transfer. The article proposes a review and typological classification of national university IPR ownership systems on the basis of their development since 2000, and uses it to analyze the aggregate dynamics of academic patent ownership in several European countries. The analysis of patterns of ownership of academic patents shows that there has been a general increase in university patenting since 1990, with a significant slowdown (and even reduction in some countries) after early 2000s accompanied by a switch in academic patents ownership in favor of university ownership though preserving the European specificity of high company ownership of academic invented patents.     

The determinants of academic research commercial performance: Towards an organizational ambidexterity perspective

This paper examined the relationship between organizational ambidexterity and research commercialization in universities. The paper develops two types of organizational ambidexterity: structural ambidexterity and contextual ambidexterity that influence research commercialization. Through a dataset of 474 academic patent inventors in Taiwan, the results revealed structural and contextual ambidexterity factors are patenting-, licensing- and start-up-specific. Despite both types of ambidexterity are complementary in patenting and licensing, contextual ambidexterity outperform structural ambidexterity in fostering university start-up equity participation. To promote academic research commercialization, it is necessary to build up a university as a dual structural organization that allows pursuing research excellence and research commercialization at the same time.     

学术和商业激励作用下的高校R&D活动影响研究

随着传统型大学向创业型大学的转变，高校兼具知识创造和知识应用的双重特性。科研人员在R&D活动中追求学术价值和商业价值双重目标。本文基于一个简单模型来研究学术和商业激励两种方式对R&D活动时间配置以及项目选择的影响，基于此，进一步分析了组织最优激励契约设计。研究结果表明：高的商业激励会减少科研人员研究活动，但却激励科研人员选择高风险的基础研究，从而会带来突破性创新。组织层面高校应加大商业激励鼓励研究偏好人员，对偏好研究活动的人员，激励其进行开发活动；对于不偏好研究活动的人员，激励其增加努力程度。     

A policy insight into the R&D-patent relationship

Contrary to an accepted wisdom, this paper shows that cross-country variations in the number of patents per researcher do not only reflect differences in the propensity to patent but also signals differences in research productivity. We put forward and test an empirical model that formally accounts for the productivity and the propensity component of the R&D-patent relationship. The two components play an important role, as witnessed by the impact of several policies, including education, intellectual property and science and technology policies. Indicators based on domestic priority filings reflect research efforts and are primarily affected by varying propensities to patent. In contrast, international filings, especially triadic patents, rather capture variations in research productivity.     

How large is the Swedish ‘academic’ sector really?: A critical analysis of the use of science and technology indicators

Sweden is perceived to be top ranking, and a ‘role model’, in terms of its volume of academic R&D. This perception is based on analyses using two standard indicators. We assess the validity of these and argue that institutional features skew the result in favour of a high ranking. Swedish academic R&D is more appropriately characterised as average, or below average, in terms of input and above average in terms of output. Science policy makers need to acknowledge this and devise policies that strengthen, rather than threaten the functioning of an efficient system.     

The spill-over theory reversed: The impact of regional economies on the commercialization of university science

The concept of regional technology spill-overs created by university research is one of the most enduring theories within the economic geography and innovation management fields. This article introduces an alternative perspective on academic commercialization, arguing that the quality of a university's regional environment can significantly impact a university's success in commercializing science. Recent research on university technology transfer stresses the importance of personal contacts between academic and industry scientists in driving commercialization. The social structure of the regional economy in which a university is embedded will strongly influence the density of contacts linking university scientists with individuals in industry, and through doing so, impact the density of networks through which university knowledge can be commercialized. Social network analysis is used to examine the quality of social ties linking industry and university scientists within the San Francisco and Los Angeles California biotechnology industries over the 1980–2005 period. Results support the theory that the existence of strong social networks linking inventors heightens university commercialization output. Despite similar university research endowments, universities in San Francisco have dramatically commercialization outputs than San Francisco, which is correlated with the existence of cohesive inventor networks linking industry and university scientists in this region, but not Los Angeles. Moreover, longitudinal analysis shows that the commercialization output of San Francisco universities increased substantially starting in the early 1990s, the time period in which cohesive inventor networks emerged in the region.     

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.     

Benchmarking U.S. university patent value and commercialization efforts: A new approach

Despite the economic significance of patented university research, it is difficult to measure the economic value of academic patented inventions and observe the extent to which universities are able to capture such value through patent licensing. Moving beyond assessing commercialization performance by simple statistics, we propose a new approach to benchmarking university patents and commercialization performance based on comparative corporate patent value. Our procedure involves matching university patents to patents with similar patent characteristics granted to public corporations, then estimating the “potential value” of these university patents by stock market reactions to grants of the matched corporate patents. These estimated values of university patents can significantly explain the technology-level income from licensing by a leading US research university and the annual licensing income of the member universities of the Association of University Technology Managers’ (AUTM). We find that AUTM universities realize an average of 16% of the estimated value of matched corporate patents. We also investigate correlates of university‐level potential patent value and suggest avenues for future research.     

The prevalence of publicly stimulated innovations –A comparison of Finland and Sweden, 1970–2013

While the role played by the state in stimulating innovation in the private sector has been a prevalent interest in innovation research, studies analysing the impacts of public interventions have usually focused on individual policies, programs or projects. Public stimulation is hence often studied from a relatively restricted and temporarily confined perspective, leaving a macro-level and longer-term perspective unrecognized. This article provides further evidence on the matter by examining how many innovations in Finland and Sweden have been publicly stimulated through funding or research collaboration, over a period of more than four decades (1970–2013). Our main source is a new innovation database constructed following the Literature Based Innovation Output (LBIO) method, which gathers the most significant innovations of both countries for the study period, totalling approximately 4100 Swedish and 2600 Finnish innovations. Our results indicate that the public sector has played a very prominent role in stimulating private innovation in both countries, and with an increasing trend. This is especially true for Finland, where 35–55% of the innovations of the period have been stimulated by public funding and 25–65% by collaboration with public research. In Sweden, the share of publicly stimulated innovations has been somewhat lower and erratic, but has increased over time.