Academic engagement and commercialisation: A review of the literature on university-industry relations
Journal article, 2013
A considerable body of work highlights the relevance of collaborative research, contract research, consulting and informal relationships for university–industry knowledge transfer. We present a systematic review of research on academic scientists’ involvement in these activities to which we refer as ‘academic engagement’. Apart from extracting findings that are generalisable across studies, we ask how academic engagement differs from commercialisation, defined as intellectual property creation and academic entrepreneurship. We identify the individual, organisational and institutional antecedents and consequences of academic engagement, and then compare these findings with the antecedents and consequences of commercialisation. Apart from being more widely practiced, academic engagement is distinct from commercialisation in that it is closely aligned with traditional academic research activities, and pursued by academics to access resources supporting their research agendas. We conclude by identifying future research needs, opportunities for methodological improvement and policy interventions.
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University-Industry relations
transfer
intellectual property
Technology transfer
ivory tower
knowledge
Commercialisation
scientific-knowledge
Academic entrepreneurship
resource-based
bayh-dole act
technology-transfer
research-and-development
public research organizations
Author
M. Perkmann
V. Tartari
Tomas McKelvey
University of Gothenburg
E. Autio
A. Brostrom
P. D'Este
R. Fini
A. Geuna
R. Grimaldi
A. Hughes
S. Krabel
M. Kitson
P. Llerena
F. Lissoni
A. Salter
M. Sobrero
Research Policy
0048-7333 (ISSN)
Vol. 42 2 423-442Subject Categories
Economics
DOI
10.1016/j.respol.2012.09.007