University - industry collaboration : new evidence and policy options.

120 Pages·2019·7.449 MB·English

University‑Industry
Collaboration
NEW EVIDENCE AND POLICY OPTIONS
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University‑Industry
Collaboration
NEW EVIDENCE AND POLICY OPTIONS
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opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official
views of OECD member countries.
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Please cite this publication as:
OECD (2019), University-Industry Collaboration : New Evidence and Policy Options, OECD Publishing, Paris.
https://doi.org/10.1787/e9c1e648-en
ISBN 978-92-64-63734-4 (print)
ISBN 978-92-64-77837-5 (pdf)
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FOREWORD │ 3

Foreword
This report presents the main outcomes from the project titled Assessing the Impacts of
the Policy Mix for Knowledge Transfer, conducted in 2017-18 by the OECD Working
Party on Innovation and Technology Policy (TIP). The main goals of the project were to
analyse the impacts of public research institutions on innovation performance, as well as
to explore the policy instruments and mixes implemented across countries to support
science-industry knowledge transfer. The project builds on the expertise of the Working
Party in knowledge transfer and public research policy domains, and is the follow-up to a
previous project on Assessing the Impacts of Public Research Systems (2015-16). This
strand of work will continue in 2019-20, with a focus on knowledge co-creation.
New empirical evidence provided in this report is the result of efforts to develop two new
databases. The first covers 21 619 public research institutions matched to data on
2.5 million patent applications to the European Patent Office (EPO) in 36 countries
(35 OECD countries and China), over the period 1992-2014, and is used to explore the
patenting activities of universities and their impacts on local business inventions. The
second is a database with indicators on the governance of public research, based on a new
survey conducted in 2017-18 across 35 OECD countries. This database was obtained
following a three-year process that involved the development of an ontology of the
governance of public research policy, as well as data collection and validation by national
authorities.
The key contribution of the project, as illustrated in this report, includes the
implementation of a novel approach to exploring science-industry knowledge transfer
using labour force survey data. Such data are examined to provide new evidence of the
contributions of graduates in social sciences to different economic sectors of activity. In
addition, the report develops a new framework for analysing policy mixes for knowledge
transfer – including a detailed taxonomy of financial, regulatory and soft policy
instruments – and a new taxonomy of types of positive and negative interactions among
policy instruments.
UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY COLLABORATION: NEW EVIDENCE AND POLICY OPTIONS © OECD 2019

TABLE OF CONTENTS │ 5

Table of contents

Reader’s guide ....................................................................................................................................... 9
Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................. 11
Acronyms and abbreviations .............................................................................................................. 13
Executive summary ............................................................................................................................. 15
Main findings and recommendations ................................................................................................ 19
Part I. Documenting the impacts of public research institutions .................................................... 27
Chapter 1. Assessing the impacts of knowledge transfer on innovation: Channels and
challenges ............................................................................................................................................. 29
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 30
1.1. Channels for knowledge transfer ................................................................................................ 31
1.2. Indicators and methods to assess knowledge transfer ................................................................. 33
1.3. Main challenges arising for impact assessment .......................................................................... 35
1.4. Conclusions ................................................................................................................................. 38
References .......................................................................................................................................... 38
Chapter 2. How does public research affect industry innovation and entrepreneurship? New
evidence ................................................................................................................................................ 39
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 40
2.1. The contribution of public research to technical invention ......................................................... 43
2.2. Does proximity to public research matter for industry inventions? ............................................ 48
2.3. Public research and innovative entrepreneurship ........................................................................ 50
2.4. Conclusions ................................................................................................................................. 53
References .......................................................................................................................................... 55
Annex 2.A1 ......................................................................................................................................... 56
Chapter 3. Gauging social science graduates’ contributions to knowledge exchange with
industry................................................................................................................................................. 59
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 60
3.1. Challenges in assessing social scientists’ role in knowledge transfer ......................................... 62
3.2. Evidence of social science graduates’ contribution to different industries ................................. 62
3.3. Conclusions ................................................................................................................................. 69
References .......................................................................................................................................... 70
Annex 3.A1 ......................................................................................................................................... 71
Annex 3.A2 ......................................................................................................................................... 72

UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY COLLABORATION: NEW EVIDENCE AND POLICY OPTIONS © OECD 2019
6 │ TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part II. Policy instruments and the policy mix for science-industry knowledge transfer............. 75
Chapter 4. Policy instruments and policy mixes for knowledge transfer ....................................... 77
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 78
4.1. What policy instruments are in place to promote knowledge transfer? ...................................... 80
4.2. Intermediary organisations .......................................................................................................... 82
4.3. How countries differ in their policies to support knowledge transfer ......................................... 84
4.4. Assessing interaction dynamics within the policy mix ............................................................... 88
4.5. Current trends and emerging policy approaches ......................................................................... 89
4.6. Open questions ............................................................................................................................ 93
4.7. Conclusions ................................................................................................................................. 94
References .......................................................................................................................................... 94
Chapter 5. New policy practice to support spin-offs ........................................................................ 97
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 98
5.1. The policy mix to support spin-offs: Types of policy instruments and interactions ................... 98
5.2. How do country conditions influence the policy mix to support spin-offs? ............................. 100
5.3. New policy approaches: focusing on quality and student entrepreneurship ............................. 100
5.4. The operational dimensions of spin-off policies that were critical to their success .................. 101
5.5. How are RTOs contributing to the success of spin-offs? .......................................................... 102
5.6. Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 103
References ........................................................................................................................................ 104
Annex 5.A1 ....................................................................................................................................... 105
Chapter 6. Governance of public research and its implications for knowledge transfer ........... 109
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 110
6.1. The autonomy of universities and PRIs .................................................................................... 110
6.2. Performance contracts and other evaluation mechanisms ........................................................ 113
6.3. Industry participation in the governing boards of universities, PRIs and research councils .... 115
6.4. Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 115
References ........................................................................................................................................ 116

UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY COLLABORATION: NEW EVIDENCE AND POLICY OPTIONS © OECD 2019
TABLE OF CONTENTS │ 7

Tables
Table 1.1. Advantages and drawbacks of different data sources and methods to explore science-
industry linkages ............................................................................................................................ 33
Table 4.1. A taxonomy of policy instruments to support knowledge transfer ...................................... 81
Table 4.2. Grant programmes for public research requiring collaboration with industry partners ....... 85
Table 4.3. Policy initiatives to promote mobility of researchers: Selected examples ........................... 86
Table 4.4. Examples of innovation voucher programmes that support the acquisition by firms of
specialised services from universities and PRIs ............................................................................ 87
Table 4.5. Types of interactions among policy instruments .................................................................. 89

Figures
Figure 1.1. Synthesis of chapter 1 ......................................................................................................... 31
Figure 2.1. Synthesis of chapter 2 ......................................................................................................... 42
Figure 2.2. Trends in number of EPO patent application ...................................................................... 43
Figure 2.3. Trend in Japanese patent applications, by patent office ...................................................... 44
Figure 2.4. Trends in the number of EPO patent application in selected technologies ......................... 45
Figure 2.5. Number of EPO applications of universities and PRIs with and without industry ............. 46
Figure 2.6. Numbers of public and public-private Japanese patent applications to the EPO ................ 46
Figure 2.7. Average number of patent citations of non-patent literature, selected countries ................ 48
Figure 2.8. Locations of higher education institutions and research institutes and of inventors from
public research and industry .......................................................................................................... 49
Figure 2.9. Share of academic start-ups in total start-ups by country and type of academic
entrepreneur ................................................................................................................................... 51
Figure 2.10. Professor-founded vs. student-founded start-ups, by technological field ......................... 52
Figure 2.11. Percentage of academic founders of start-ups by rank of their home university .............. 53
Figure 2.A1.1. Coverage of public research institutions ....................................................................... 57
Figure 3.1. Synthesis of chapter 3 ......................................................................................................... 61
Figure 3.2. Economic sector destinations of graduates in social sciences and engineering, EU-28,
2013 ............................................................................................................................................... 64
Figure 3.3. Economic sector destinations of graduates in different fields of study, EU-28, 2013 ........ 66
Figure 3.4. Occupation of graduates in different social science disciplines, United Kingdom ............. 67
Figure 3.5. ICT specialists by scientific discipline, European countries, 2013 ..................................... 69
Figure 4.1. Synthesis of chapter 4 ......................................................................................................... 79
Figure 6.1. Autonomy of universities and PRIs across the OECD area .............................................. 112
Figure 6.2. Year of introduction of performance contracts and shares of universities’ institutional
block funding involved ................................................................................................................ 113
Figure 6.3. Who formally participates on public university boards? .................................................. 115
UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY COLLABORATION: NEW EVIDENCE AND POLICY OPTIONS © OECD 2019