Combining the production and the valorization of academic research: A qualitative investigation of enacted mechanisms.

The emergence of knowledge-based societies over the past decades has spurred research on the specific role of universities in innovation systems. The notion of academic entrepreneurship has gained acceptance among communities of researchers, practitioners and policy makers (Etzkowitz et al., 1998). At the same time, this acceptance seems impregnated by a constant alertness for the tensions that may arise. Concerns are uttered about shifts of the academic research agenda towards industry needs, resulting in fewer investments in basic research. Furthermore, the conflicting nature of the normative principles that guide academia and business has been warned for: competitive considerations and secrecy practices would stand in direct opposition to the principle of free dissemination of scientific knowledge (Dasgupta and David, 1987; Florida and Cohen, 1999; Geuna, 1999; Noble, 1977).Agency; Applicant; Assignee; Assignment; Business; Companies; Country; Data; EPO; Indicators; Information; Innovation; Institutional; Inventors; Methods; Order; Patent; Patent statistics; Patentee; Performance; Policy; Regions; Research; Researchers; Sector; Sector assignment; Technology; Time; University; USPTO; Innovation systems; Systems; Academic entrepreneurship; Community; Research agenda; Industry; Industries; Investments; Investment; Basic research; Principles; Dissemination; Knowledge;

Patent related indicators for assessing knowledge-generating institutions: towards a contextualised approach.

This contribution aims at examining the extent to which patent related indicators are relevant for shedding light on the notion of excellence within knowledge generating institutions. Traditionally, excellence has been looked upon as the ability to create interesting and valuable new scientific concepts, theories and data. From such a perspective, scientific excellence can be assessed through scientometric measures of publication output and impact. The recent interest in the 'entrepreneurial' phenomenon within knowledge generating institutes justifies efforts to examine the relevancy of broadening the set of indicators used to assess such institutions into the direction of entrepreneurial excellence. In this paper we will examine the relevancy of using patent data in order to delineate such additional, more entrepreneurial oriented, indicators. The arguments and findings presented in this respect will lead us to a plea for the use of these indicators in a contextualized manner.Science; Effectiveness; Patents; Country; Performance; Variance analysis;

Combining entrepreneurial and scientific performance in academia: towards a compounded and reciprocal Matthew effect.

The increase of entrepreneurial activity within academia has raised concerns that the research orientation of universities might become 'contaminated' by the application-oriented needs of industry. Empirical evidence on this concern is scarce and ambiguous. We examine whether entrepreneurial and scientific performance in academia can be reconciled. Our empirical findings (K.U.Leuven, Belgium) suggest that both activities do not hamper each other; engagement in entrepreneurial activities coincides with increased publication outputs, without affecting the nature of the publications involved. As resources increase, this interaction becomes more significant, pointing towards a Matthew-effect. We finally suggest that balancing both activities further depends on the institutional policies deployed.Belgium; Industry; Innovation systems; Knowledge interactions; Performance; Policy; University;

Enterprising academics: (when) does the combination of scientific and patenting activities make sense?.

Ondernemende academici: (wanneer) is de combinatie van wetenschappeli jke en patent activiteiten zinvol? Dit onderzoeksproject speelt zich af tegen de achtergrond van de kennisg ebaseerde samenleving waarbinnen universiteiten vandaag de dag hun tradi tionele onderwijs- en onderzoeksmissie moeten uitbreiden met een actieve socio-economische bijdrage. Op het individuele niveau van de academisch e onderzoeker gaat deze evolutie gepaard met veranderde jobvereisten: na ast onderwijs en onderzoek raken academici meer en meer betrokken bij in dustrie-georienteerde en ondernemende activiteiten zoals contractonderzo ek, betrokkenheid bij spinoffs en het patenteren van onderzoeksresultate n. Het project verschaft inzicht in de dynamieken achter deze gecombinee rde betrokkenheid bij wetenschappelijke en technologische (patent)activi teiten. Startpunt voor het onderzoek is de vaststelling van een positiev e relatie tussen beide activiteiten: op zichzelf een niet-vanzelfspreken d gegeven. Het academisch ondernemerschap fenomeen heeft sinds haar opko mst tijdens de jaren tachtig en negentig voor controverse gezorgd rond d e vraag of industrieel georiënteerde activiteiten al of niet wenselijk z ijn binnen het universiteitswezen. Het toevoegen van dergelijke activite iten aan de traditionele onderwijs- en onderzoekstaken zou leiden tot sp anningen, omwille van de confrontatie met conflicterende normen en waard en. Het project levert tegenevidentie voor dergelijke spanningen. De bev indingen bieden daarenboven inzicht in de processen en dynamieken waarme e individuele onderzoekers vruchten kunnen plukken van een gecombineerde betrokkenheid in wetenschappelijke en technologisch-georienteerde activiteiten.academic entrepreneurship;

Enterprising academics: (when) does the combination of scientific and patenting activities make sense?

Ondernemende academici: (wanneer) is de combinatie van wetenschappeli jke en patent activiteiten zinvol? Dit onderzoeksproject speelt zich af tegen de achtergrond van de kennisg ebaseerde samenleving waarbinnen universiteiten vandaag de dag hun tradi tionele onderwijs- en onderzoeksmissie moeten uitbreiden met een actieve socio-economische bijdrage. Op het individuele niveau van de academisch e onderzoeker gaat deze evolutie gepaard met veranderde jobvereisten: na ast onderwijs en onderzoek raken academici meer en meer betrokken bij in dustrie-georienteerde en ondernemende activiteiten zoals contractonderzo ek, betrokkenheid bij spinoffs en het patenteren van onderzoeksresultate n. Het project verschaft inzicht in de dynamieken achter deze gecombinee rde betrokkenheid bij wetenschappelijke en technologische (patent)activi teiten. Startpunt voor het onderzoek is de vaststelling van een positiev e relatie tussen beide activiteiten: op zichzelf een niet-vanzelfspreken d gegeven. Het academisch ondernemerschap fenomeen heeft sinds haar opko mst tijdens de jaren tachtig en negentig voor controverse gezorgd rond d e vraag of industrieel georiënteerde activiteiten al of niet wenselijk z ijn binnen het universiteitswezen. Het toevoegen van dergelijke activite iten aan de traditionele onderwijs- en onderzoekstaken zou leiden tot sp anningen, omwille van de confrontatie met conflicterende normen en waard en. Het project levert tegenevidentie voor dergelijke spanningen. De bev indingen bieden daarenboven inzicht in de processen en dynamieken waarme e individuele onderzoekers vruchten kunnen plukken van een gecombineerde betrokkenheid in wetenschappelijke en technologisch-georienteerde activiteiten.CHAPTER 1 - Academic entrepreneurship: Situating the phenomenon 1 1.1. The knowledge-based society 1 1.1.1. The role of government 3 1.1.2. The role of industry 7 1.2. Academic entrepreneurship 10 1.2.1. The literature on academic entrepreneurship: a taxonomy 11 1.2.2. Debate on the consequences of academic entrepreneurship 20 1.2.3. Research objective 26 CHAPTER 2 - Combining scientific and entrepreneurial activities at K.U.Leuven 31 2.1. Introduction 31 2.2. Setting the stage: K.U.Leuven 32 2.3. Data 34 2.4. Analyses and Results 36 2.4.1. A scientific advantage of entrepreneurial professors? 36 2.4.2. Evidence for a skewing problem? 37 2.4.3. Publication profiles over time 39 2.4.4. Combined effect of contract research and patenting 44 2.5. Discussion 45 CHAPTER 3 - Combining the production and the valorization of academic research: A qualitative investigation of enacted mechanisms 51 3.1. Introduction 51 3.2. Combining scientific and entrepreneurial activities: a qualitative inquiry 52 3.3. A synopsis of professor’s stories on academic entrepreneurship 57 3.3.1. Application as an inherent part of understanding 57 3.3.2. The role of financial and human capital 60 3.3.3. Cooperative scenarios moderating concerns and appropriate practices 65 3.4. Conclusions 68 CHAPTER 4 - Revisiting the scientific advantage of academic inventors: Unraveling dynamics for engineering professors at K.U.Leuven and EPFL 71 4.1. Introduction 71 4.2. Unraveling underlying dynamics 72 4.2.1. Co-occurrence 72 4.2.2. Beyond co-occurrence: mutual cross-fertilization from science to technology and vice versa? 74 4.2.3. Data 76 4.2.4. Analyses and Results 79 4.2.5. Discussion 88 CHAPTER 5 - Revisiting the scientific advantage of academic inventors, part 2: Extension towards biomedicine and chemistry professors at Université Louis Pasteur 93 5.1. Introduction 93 5.2. Data and analytical framework 95 5.3. Results 98 5.3.1. Co-occurrence of patenting and publishing 98 5.3.2. Effect of scientific performance on patenting 99 5.3.4. Effect of patenting on subsequent publication performance 102 5.3.5. Path Analyses 103 5.4. Discussion 106 CHAPTER 6 - Introducing topic relatedness between scientific and technological activities: Exploring the potential of text mining algorithms 109 6.1. Measurement instrument 111 6.1.1. The vector space model 112 6.1.2. Towards an appropriate measure 116 6.2. Avenues for assessing the influence of research portfolio characteristics 123 6.2.1. Integrating topic similarity into the time-lag model 125 6.2.2. A portfolio-based typology of professors 130 CHAPTER 7 - Discussion and conclusion 141 7.1. Summary of empirical findings 141 7.2. Opening up the black box 146 7.2.1. A closer look at the nature of activities 147 7.2.2. A closer look at agency 155 7.2.3. Towards enriched economic models of science 159 7.2.4. A closer look at context and policy 166 7.2.5. Directions for further research 169 REFERENCES 185status: publishe

Do firms profit from involving academics when developing technology?

In this study, we analyze the contribution of academics to corporate technology development. Firm patents that involve (Flemish) academic inventors are contrasted with patents developed in-house. Two distinctive patterns emerge. First, firms involve academics relatively more often when exploring new technological fields (novel to the firm). At the same time, the majority of inventions in which academics become involved still reside in domains familiar to the firm (exploitation). Second, the impact of academic involvement differs significantly depending on whether contributions are situated in familiar or novel domains. When working in domains in which the firm has previous experience, academic involvement leads on average to fewer subsequent inventions (by the firm), whereas the reverse pattern occurs when firms engage academics in exploring new domains. These seemingly opposing patterns can be reconciled by taking into account familiarity with the underlying domain: academic involvement results in the creation of new options when exploring new domains while the benefits of engaging academics in exploitation reside mainly in eliminating (real) options.status: Published onlin

Sources of inspiration? Making sense of scientific references in patents

Scientific references in patent documents can be used as indicators signaling science-technology interactions. Whether they reflect a direct ‘knowledge flow’ from science to technology is subject of debate. Based on 33 interviews with inventors at Belgian firms and knowledge-generating institutes active in nanotechnology, biotechnology and life sciences, we analyze the extent to which scientific references in patents reflect sources of inspiration. Our results indicate that scientific knowledge acts as a source of inspiration for about 50 % of the inventions. At the same time, the scientific references cited in patent documents and available in patent databases do not provide an accurate picture in this respect: 30 % of patents that were inspired by scientific knowledge do not contain any scientific references. Moreover, if scientific references are present, half of them are evaluated as unimportant or background information by the inventor. Overall, these observations provide evidence that scientific references in patent documents signal relatedness with the implied inventions without necessarily implying a direct, inspirational, knowledge flow between both activity realms

Patent statistics at Eurostat: Mapping the contribution of SMEs in EU patenting

Previous research has shown that in the past small firms have initiated a vaster amount of disruptive innovations than their large counterparts. Scholars have attributed this predominance of SMEs to their organizational simplicity, fostering the entrepreneurial impulsiveness in which radical innovations are often rooted. Accordingly, monitoring the SME share in innovative activities has been high on policymakers' agendas. Since a few decades, patent statistics have been an important indicator of innovation. However, measuring the contribution of SMEs is challenging given the lack of business information in patent documents and the thus required linkage to external financial and ownership information. In the current publication a two-stage methodology is presented to arrive at reliable indicators of the SME contribution in corporate patenting. Stage 1 comprises the matching of patents in a patent database to companies in a financial database, followed by the classification of the patents according to firm size. Stage 2 implies additional external information sources in order to address missing data, especially with respect to ownership. Results suggest that actual SMEs account for approximately 1 out of every 5 patent applications filed by companies from the European Union.nrpages: 62status: publishe

Patent related indicators for assessing knowledge-generating institutions: towards a contextualised approach

This contribution aims at examining the extent to which patent related indicators are relevant for shedding light on the notion of excellence within knowledge generating institutions. Traditionally, excellence has been looked upon as the ability to create interesting and valuable new scientific concepts, theories and data. From such a perspective, scientific excellence can be assessed through scientometric measures of publication output and impact. The recent interest in the 'entrepreneurial' phenomenon within knowledge generating institutes justifies efforts to examine the relevancy of broadening the set of indicators used to assess such institutions into the direction of entrepreneurial excellence. In this paper we will examine the relevancy of using patent data in order to delineate such additional, more entrepreneurial oriented, indicators. The arguments and findings presented in this respect will lead us to a plea for the use of these indicators in a contextualized manner.status: publishe