A patent-based analysis of the evolution of basic, mission-oriented, and applied research in European universities

Gabriele Angori, Chiara Marzocchi (), Laura Ramaciotti and Ugo Rizzo
Additional contact information
Gabriele Angori: University of Ferrara
Chiara Marzocchi: Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle University
Laura Ramaciotti: University of Ferrara

The Journal of Technology Transfer, 2024, vol. 49, issue 2, No 8, 609-641

Abstract: Abstract The dynamics of basic and applied research at university and industry have steadily changed since the Eighties, with the private sector reducing its investments in science and universities experiencing significant remodelling in the governance of their funding. While studies have focussed on documenting these changes in industry, less attention has been paid to observe the trajectories of basic and applied research in universities. This work contributes to fill this gap by looking at the evolution of publicly funded research that has been patented by universities between 1978 and 2015. First, we adopt a critical perspective of the basic versus applied dichotomy and identify patents according to three typologies of research: basic, mission-oriented, and applied research. Second, we describe the evolution of these three typologies in universities compared to industry. Our results show that over the years, patents from academic research that was publicly funded have become more oriented towards pure basic research, with mission-oriented basic research and pure applied research decreasing from the late 1990s. These results complement and extend the literature on basic and applied research dynamics in the private sector. By introducing mission-oriented research as a type of basic research with consideration of use, the work problematises the basic and applied research dichotomy and provides insights into the evolution of academic research focus, offering a more complex picture of how university research contributes to industry and broader social value creation.

Keywords: University research; Industry research; Patents; Division of labour; Use-inspired basic research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10961-023-10001-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:jtecht:v:49:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s10961-023-10001-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... nt/journal/10961/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10961-023-10001-5

Access Statistics for this article

The Journal of Technology Transfer is currently edited by Albert N. Link, Donald S. Siegel, Barry Bozeman and Simon Mosey

More articles in The Journal of Technology Transfer from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().