Economic performance measures for evaluating government-sponsored research

The purpose of this paper is to discuss, in general terms, evaluation issues related to government-sponsored research and to describe and critique the usefulness of economic performance measures for evaluating such activity. Herein is presented an overview of the economic justification for government-sponsored research and the rationale for its evaluation. Also, fundamental evaluation methods are described. The paper ends with a recommendation that benefit-cost analysis may be the most appropriate economic performance measure when evaluating government-sponsored research if used cautiously and with an understanding of its inherent subjectivity

Value for Money Model for Industrial Investment in University Research

University-industry collaboration is an important enabler of open innovation, however, there is a lack of understanding of how to measure the overall benefits of collaborative research projects in terms of value for money. Therefore, following a literature review, a conceptual model has been developed that provides a management framework for deriving the additional (leveraged) benefits of research undertaken at universities. The model itself is focused on the provision of value drivers (either knowledge or financial), which detail specific quantitative and qualitative metrics to enable the value for money case. The model has been initially investigated through a case study involving application to a university-industry strategic alliance over a two-year period. Preliminary findings indicate that the data and information supplied by the model helped the company to continue justifying its investment in research at the university and this has significantly strengthened the strategic alliance

A robust nonparametric approach to the analysis of scientific productivity

Data on scientific productivity at institutes of the French INSERM and at biomedical research institutes of the Italian CNR for 1997 were analysed. Available data on human capital input and geographical agglomeration allowed the estimation and comparison of efficiency measures for. Nonparametric envelopment techniques were used, and robust nonparametric techniques was applied in this work for the first time for evaluating scientific productivity. It is shown as a useful tool to compute scientific productivity indicators and make institutional comparative analyses. Taking into account a large number of methodological problems, a meaningful and rigorous indirect comparison is made possible. Several possible explanations of the observed differences in productivity are commented on

Measuring the unmeasurable: Cost-benefit analysis for new business start-ups and scientific research transfers

Public laboratories frequently need to assess the economic impacts of two common types of technology transfers: new business start-ups and scientific research transfers. However, it is quite difficult to measure economic impacts for these two kinds of transfers because they generally involve expected future sales or the flow of intangible knowledge. Using two case studies from Sandia National Laboratories, we demonstrate in this paper an approach by which such cost-benefit estimates can be constructed. In particular, we illustrate how to estimate benefits when company (or industry) data do not exist or must be held confidential. Our cases relate to plasma thermal spray technology and polycrystalline diamond compact drill bits