The impact of public funding on science valorisation: an analysis of the ERC Proof-of-Concept Programme

Federico Munari and Laura Toschi

Research Policy, 2021, vol. 50, issue 6

Abstract: Governments and public agencies are increasingly keen to support the translation of scientific discoveries into commercial and societal applications through science valorisation funding, as a way to enhance progress and inclusive growth. In this paper, we use grant-level data from the European Research Council Proof-of-Concept (PoC) programme, in order to assess the impact of public funding on a broad set of science valorisation outcomes, including licensing, spinoff formation, R&D collaborations, consulting and access to follow-on funding. We employ an instrumental variable approach to compare the valorisation outcomes of projects that obtained an ERC PoC grant to a group of projects that applied to the PoC scheme but were not funded. We find that the programme was effective in fostering the early valorisation of scientific discoveries by all measures of success that we employed. Overall, thus, our findings speak in favour of this type of policy instrument as a catalyst to accelerate the transition of scientific breakthroughs towards practical applications.

Keywords: science valorisation; impact; technology transfer; proof-of-concept; public funding; grants (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G32 G38 L52 O34 O38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:50:y:2021:i:6:s0048733321000159

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2021.104211

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