Academic Engagement, Commercialization, and Scholarship : Empirical Evidence from Agricultural and Life Scientists at U.S. Land-grant Universities
Bradford L. Barham, Jeremy D. Foltz, Ana Paula Melo
This article examines the involvement of agricultural and life science faculty at U.S. land grant universities in two types of university-industry relations: academic engagement (sponsored research, industry collaborations, and presentations), academic commercialization (patenting, licensing, and start-ups) and traditional academic scholarship. It exploits large-scale, random sample cross-section surveys of nearly 1,500 scientists at the original 52 Land Grant Universities in 2005 and 2015. We fill a knowledge gap regarding the prevalence, coincidence, intensity, importance and factors shaping faculty involvement in university-industry relations (UIR). After several decades of promotion and emphasis on UIR activities participation in them has plateaued and is stable at a fairly high level. Academic engagement is far more prevalent (at 76% of faculty) and important than is academic commercialization (at 19% of faculty). Academic engagement generates 15-20 times the research funds than academic commercialization does, but both continue to be dwarfed by public funding. We find evidence of synergies between UIR activities and academic scholarship. We also explore how individual, institutional, and university-level factors help explain faculty UIR participation. We find differences across academic disciplines and highlight the role that faculty attitudes toward science and commercial activity shape involvement in UIR. Significant differences also stem from university level effects and may be contingent on culture, history, location, and quality of science
Year of publication: |
January 2020
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Authors: | Barham, Bradford L. |
Other Persons: | Foltz, Jeremy D. (contributor) ; Melo, Ana Paula (contributor) |
Institutions: | National Bureau of Economic Research (contributor) |
Publisher: |
2020: Cambridge, Mass : National Bureau of Economic Research |
Subject: | USA | United States | Universitäre Forschung | University research | Landwirtschaft | Agriculture | Wissenschaftler | Scientists | Forschungskooperation | Research collaboration | Hochschule | Higher education institution | Kommerzialisierung | Commercialization |
Saved in:
freely available
Extent: | 1 Online-Ressource illustrations (black and white) |
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Series: | NBER working paper series ; no. w26688 |
Type of publication: | Book / Working Paper |
Language: | English |
Notes: | System requirements: Adobe [Acrobat] Reader required for PDF files Mode of access: World Wide Web Hardcopy version available to institutional subscribers |
Other identifiers: | 10.3386/w26688 [DOI] |
Source: | ECONIS - Online Catalogue of the ZBW |
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012479212