A new industry creation and originality: Insight from the funding sources of university patents

Marco Guerzoni (), T. Taylor Aldridge, David Audretsch () and Sameeksha Desai ()

Research Policy, 2014, vol. 43, issue 10, 1697-1706

Abstract: Scientific breakthroughs coming from universities can contribute to the emergence of new industries, such as in the case of biotechnology. Obviously, not all research conducted in universities leads to a radical change from existing technological trajectories. Patents and patent dynamics have long been recognized as critical in understanding the emergence of new technologies and industries. Specifically, patent citations provide insight into the originality of a discovery that has received patent protection. Yet while a large body of literature addresses the impact of patent originality on various firm performance measures, we address the question of what conditions drive patent originality in the process of knowledge creation within the university. Using data on patented cancer research, we examine how research context – as reflected by the funding source for each scientist – is associated with patent originality. We find that when university scientists are partly funded by their own university, they have a higher propensity to generate more original patents. By contrast, university scientists funded either by industry or other non-university organizations have a lower propensity to generate more original patents. The significance of our findings in the cancer research setting call for further research on this question in other research fields.

Keywords: University–industry relations; Academic patenting; Originality; Research funding (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:43:y:2014:i:10:p:1697-1706

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2014.07.009

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