What makes a gatekeeper? Insights from the Finnish nano-community

Tuomo Nikulainen

No 07-03, DRUID Working Papers from DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies

Abstract: In the process of transferring scientific knowledge to industry the role of individual academics has received less attention than the other actors in this process. This paper aims to identify the characteristics of these key individuals, or gatekeepers, by analysing them within the context of technology transfer in a science and technology community. The estimation results show that individuals who are able to provide firms with relevant research information and results are connected to the firms informally and formally. They have commercial motivations in their research and are more likely to act as gatekeepers in social networks. On the other hand, some of the a priori assumptions of these characteristics fail to have significant influence.

Keywords: Technology transfer; nanotechnology; social networks; gatekeepers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O31 O33 O34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ino and nep-knm
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aal:abbswp:07-03

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