Industry Funding of University Research and Scientific Productivity

Abstract

Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW.Download this ZEW Discussion Paper from our ftp server:ftp://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp10105.pdf Non-Technical SummaryResearch conducted by university researchers for industry constitutes one of the main channels through which knowledge and technology are transferred from science to the private sector. Since the value of such inputs for the innovation performance of firms has been found to be considerable, it is not surprising that firms increasingly seek direct access to university knowledge. In particular, industry funding for public sector R&D has been steadily increasing in most OECD countries.The growing amount of industry funded research, however, spurs concerns regarding Previous research has provided little empirical evidence on the effects of industry funding for university research on scientific productivity at the level of the individual researcher.This study aims at filling this gap by studying the effects of industry sponsoring on professors' scientific productivity. Our data contains information on laboratory and funding characteristics as well as on publication and patent output for 678 professors at 46 different universities in Germany covering a broad range of research fields in science and engineering. The results show that a higher budget share from industry reduces the publication output of professors in terms of both quantity and quality in subsequent years.In turn, industry funding has a positive impact on the quality of applied research if measured by patent citations. Industry funding may thus still have beneficial effects by improving impact and quality of more applied research.We believe the results from this study are provocative for policy analysis and public funding authorities. An increasing reliance on industry funding compared to stagnating core funding may indeed affect the development of science in the long run if publication output is reduced. On the other hand, industry funding may be very valuable for professors' applied research and the success of their patenting activities. Das Wichtigste in Kürze AbstractUniversity research provides valuable inputs to industrial innovation. It is therefore not surprising that private sector firms increasingly seek direct access through funding public R&D. This development, however, spurred concerns about possible negative long-run effects on scientific performance. While previous research has mainly focused on a potential crowding-out of scientific publications through commercialization...

The Role of Research Orientation for Attracting Competitive Research Funding

“…The role of research orientation for attracting third-party funding may thus not only be a crucial one, but also one that had been studied less thoroughly than for instance the effects of such grants on academic productivity (Jacob andLefgren 2007, Hottenrott andThorwarth 2010). One notable exception is an exploratory study by Gulbransen and Smeby (2005).…”

The effect of social network, funding and productive organizational energy on the capability of organizational ambidexterity in research institution

“…Although government funding is still a major source for college, but currently the industry funding has increased significantly. Scientists also have been aware that the grant of the industry is become an attractive funding source that is able to complement core funding sources and other public research funds (Hottenrott and Thorwarth, 2010). This funding factor, in addition to helping the individual or institution to be able to conduct research, meanwhile played a significant role in the behavioral research tendencies of individual or institution.…”

“…The research funded by external parties, especially the industry generally expected to adapt to the needs of the industry. Therefore, applicable knowledge is preferred so it can be applied by the industry as part of their innovation process (Hottenrott and Thorwarth, 2010). This kind of research is more close to the exploitation of existing knowledge which is include the selection process and improvements so it can be used for practical needs (Hottenrott and Lawson, 2012).…”

“…In the context of research institution, previous studies mentioned external factors such as social networks (McFadyen and Cannella, 2004;Rotolo and Petruzzelli, 2012) and funding (Connolly, 1997;Hottenrott and Thorwarth, 2010;Hottenrott and Lawson, 2012) to be a factor that affect the creation of new knowledge through research productivity. Organization stickiness in a network of relationships with other organizations is known to have significant implications for organizational performance (Gulati et al, 2000;Zaheer and Bell, 2005).…”

“…This factor is mentioned to affect the behavior of research of the institution, whether to produces pure knowledge as a result of exploration or applied knowledge as a result of exploitation (Hottenrott and Thorwarth, 2010). Funding from internal institutions generally produce more pure research because this fund is allocated to support the basic research (Siadat et al, 2012).…”