Academic Research Underlying Industrial Innovations: Sources, Characteristics, and Financing

Engaging the scholar: Three types of academic consulting and their impact on universities and industry

“…Academics often maintain consulting relationships with firms supporting their research. Mansfield (1995) reported that in all industries other than pharmaceuticals, over half of a sample of highly industry relevant academics said that the problems and ideas they worked on in their government-funded research often developed out of consulting. Murray's (2002) work on tissue engineering also points to a distinct research-driven logic.…”

“…A resource-based view is supported by case study evidence highlighting that spin-off companies are sometimes used to fund further academic research by their founders (Meyer, 2003). Consulting also often goes hand in hand with sponsored or collaborative research funded or co-funded by industrial partners (Mansfield, 1995).…”

“…A detailed reading of the literature reveals an incomplete picture, specifically concerning the relationship between academics' research and their consulting engagements. Some authors report positive feedback effects between research productivity and involvement with industrial partners (Mansfield, 1995;Van Looy et al, 2004). Others are sceptical as they point to the detractive effects of industry collaboration for academic research (Behrens and Gray, 2001;Slaughter and Leslie, 1997).…”

“…Commonly, consulting is regarded as rather unrelated to state-of-the-art academic research (Howells et al, 1998) yet, simultaneously, consulting appears to be practiced by high-performing academics (Mansfield, 1995). Thirdly, how does academic consulting contribute to innovation processes within firms?…”

Inventors and Entrepreneurs in Academia: What Types of Skills and Experience Matter?

“…Technological advances based on university research are among the main sources of new contributions to the pool of technological opportunities. Indeed, technological opportunities based on the creation of new technical knowledge by academia have become an important source of opportunities for enhancing industrial innovation performance (Mansfield, 1995, Bierly et al, 2009, Bishop et al, 2011. Academic inventors are the main university actors and contribute In terms of their enactment, Shane and Venkataraman (2000) propose that entrepreneurial opportunities exist when new means-ends relationships emerge in product markets, factor markets or new materials (among other alternatives).…”