Are academic spin-offs really doing science?

Jörg Potthast and Michael Guggenheim

Discussion Papers, Research Group Science Policy Studies from WZB Berlin Social Science Center

Abstract: Organisations make an indispensable contribution to reproducing functional systems. Can this also be said of organisations with multiple systemic ties? In considering this issue, this paper looks at the example of academic spin-offs. On the basis of qualitative interviews with people involved in founding spin-offs from non-university research institutes in Germany, the authors investigate the extent to which such firms help reproduce the structural characteristics of science. The theoretical yield of this study is the linkage of systems-theoretical and practice-theoretical perspectives.

Date: 2008
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:wzbsps:spiii2008602

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