Die Institutionalisierung von Wissensbeständen in Österreich. Die Diskrepanz zwischen wirtschaftlicher Realität und Politik

The University Act 2002 redefines ownership structures over intellectual property in Austria, thus paving the way for enhanced knowledge transfer and knowledge commercialization from public research institutions. This study discusses the various featers of the different models of generating and leveraging knowledge. It does so, by explaining the characteristics of technology markets and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of proprietary versus open knowledge generation from a perspective of new institutional economics. Particular emphasis is being put on the preservation of the public interest, deemed particularly important in the context of publicly funded research. The paper concludes by offering a rough outlook on the Austrian context and by arguing that further research is needed to better grasp the economic governance structures of knowledge generation and transfer in Austrian Universities.