11 research outputs found
Scientometric research in South Africa and successful policy instruments
An extended version of a paper presented at the 13th International Conference on
Scientometrics and Informetrics, Durban (South Africa), 4â7 July 2011.This document provides an analysis of scientometric research in South Africa
and it discusses sources of growth in the countryâs research literature in general. South
Africa is identified to have limited expertise in the field revealed mainly during the last
decade. However, the country is ranked 21st in the world among the countries publishing
in the journal Scientometrics and it is the only African country with such a standing in the
field. Identification of the forces affecting positively the growth in the number of research
publications in the country indicates that the primary incentive fuelling the recent growth is
the new funding formula in the country which subsidizes the universities by more than
R100 000 for each publication that their staff produces. The increase in the number of
journals indexed in the ISI Thomson Reuters database and the incorporation of social
sciences at the NRF have also affected the growth of research publications, but to a lesser
extent.http://www.springerlink.com/content/0138-9130/ai201
What are the trade-offs of academic entrepreneurship? An investigation on the Italian case
This study addresses the following research questions: what happens to the propensity to collaborate with other firms, once the researcher creates her own venture? Do her collaborations decrease or do they grow? These questions have been overlooked by the current literature, even though they carry important policy implications. Our key suggestion is that the effectiveness of a technology transfer tool can be better assessed by taking into account the possible crowding-out effects with other channels of knowledge transfer. We do so for Italy, by comparing the behavior of single researchers, before and after the establishment of their own firm, with the behavior of a control group. We assess whether those academics that founded their own firm significantly change their attitude to perform research collaborations with other firms by means of co-publication and co-patenting. We also verify whether creating a firm has an impact on the overall patenting and publication performance. Our results suggest that there is a negative effect on the overall publishing performance, while the patenting activity does not change significantly. Regarding co-publications, our results confirm the existence of a substitution effect between spin-offs and co-publication with firms, while we observe an increase in the case of co-patenting. A closer look at the data, however, suggests that the latter is mainly triggered by the patenting activity that the researcher performs with his or her own compan
The UBC ecosystem: putting together a comprehensive framework for university-business cooperation
The potential for a functional âtriple helixâ to contribute to economic development is being increasingly accepted and embraced, particularly the bilateral relationship between higher education institutions (HEIs) and business. However, university-business cooperation (UBC) is still a fragmented and indistinct field of research, and the understanding of UBC remains inadequate since most research is undertaken around specific elements, rather than as an encompassing, overarching and interconnected system. This paper aims fills this gap in the literature by putting the pieces together to create an integrated and comprehensive conceptual UBC framework for HEIs, the UBC Ecosystem. The framework illustrates the components present in the UBC environment for HEIs, such as inputs, activities, outcomes, outputs, impacts, supporting mechanisms, circumstances and context, specifying a wide range of sub-elements for each of them. In doing so, this paper makes a strong theoretical contribution with the creation of a conceptual framework, highlighting the more important elements and their interrelations as well as suggesting future research. Additionally, the paper makes a practical contribution, establishing a common UBC schema for HEI managers and policymakers to make strategic and operative decisions, and used as a base for evidence-based management and policy