Introducing Academic Skills in Know-how-based Firms Innovative Potential or Non-complementarity?

René Nielsen

No 07-21, DRUID Working Papers from DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies

Abstract: This paper contributes with two new findings to the literature on how universities contribute to industrial development. First, it argues and substantiates quantitatively through logistic regression models that introduction of academically skilled graduates in small, know-how-based firms can be instrumental in spurring innovation and upgrading changes in the firms. Second, it argues and substantiates quantitatively that it is not just graduates with technical and natural scientific qualifications that can contribute positively. Graduates with other academic qualifications also hold potential for innovation and upgrading changes in the firms, especially when it comes to major organisational changes. Qua these findings the paper contributes to the literature in two ways. It is a contribution to and substantiation of the ‘broader’ view arguing that universities contribute to industrial development with more than directly applicable information and technologies. And, academically skilled graduates are not only relevant in technological R&D departments of science-based firms.

Keywords: Science; Academic research; Skilled graduates; Innovation; Technological change; Organisational change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D83 I23 J24 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-hrm, nep-ino and nep-mic
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aal:abbswp:07-21

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