Industry funding of university research and scientific productivity

Hanna Hottenrott and Susanne Thorwarth ()

ZEW Discussion Papers from ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Abstract: University research provides valuable inputs to industrial innovation. It is therefore not surprising that private sector firms increasingly seek direct access through funding public R&D. This development, however, spurred concerns about possible negative long-run effects on scientific performance. While previous research mainly focused on a potential crowding-out of scientific publications through commercialization activities such as patenting or the formation of spin-off companies, we study the effects of direct funding from industry on professors' publication and patenting efforts. Our analysis on a sample of 678 professors at 46 higher education institutions in Germany shows that a higher share of industry funding of a professor's research budget results in a lower publication outcome both in terms of quantity and quality in subsequent years. For patents, we find that industry funding increases their quality measured by patent citations.

Keywords: Scientific Productivity; Research Funding; Academic Patents; Technology Transfer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O31 O32 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-edu, nep-eff, nep-ino, nep-ipr, nep-pr~ and nep-sbm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (32)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Industry funding of university research and scientific productivity (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:zewdip:10105r

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