R&D Venture: proposition of a technology transfer concept for breakthrough technologies with R&D cooperation: A case study in the energy sector

At times when the market demands strong active innovation, large industrial corporations with established R&D organizations benefit from screening and developing breakthrough innovation. The ability of established organizations to absorb for future technologies is a key to successfully recognize, explore and capture breakthrough innovations. R&D Venturing is a practical way of bringing about technology transfer and exploration of future technologies through R&D cooperation, which is described in this paper by a multiple case study in the energy sector. Existing literature has been reviewed and an R&D Venturing concept will be suggested with a number of propositions for implementation. The results of the case study strongly support that different perspectives of the concept from industry, academia and the ventures themselves have to be carefully understood. Based on the results of the case study, a conceptual framework and propositions for a successful implementation have been derived. A critical discussion of the R&D Venturing concept shows the need for further empirical investigation.     

The effect of competitive and non-competitive R&;D collaboration on firm innovation

A firm can improve its innovation either by its internal research and development (R&D) efforts or by forming external collaborative R&D alliances. While previous studies on R&D collaboration and knowledge diffusion mainly focus on various external sources of R&D collaboration, little effort has been made to investigate the joint impact of competitive and non-competitive R&D collaborations on firm innovation simultaneously. By examining the data of 165 Taiwanese firms in the information and communication technology industry, we find that: (1) non-competitive R&D collaborations with universities have a positive direct impact on firm’s innovation performance; and (2) both non-competitive and competitive R&D collaborations have a positively moderating effect on the relationship between a firm’s internal R&D efforts and firm innovation and the positive moderating effect is higher for non-competitive R&D collaborations than that of competitive R&D collaborations. These findings suggest that R&D collaborations, either non-competitive or competitive, exhibit the nature of a win–win situation. We also derive implications for firms’ selection of R&D alliance partners and government policies.     

Measurement and Growth of R&D Within the Service Economy

Twenty-five years ago, industrial performance of research and development (R&D) was primarily an activity undertaken by large traditional manufacturing firms. Only about 3 percent of the R&D conducted in industrial labs was done by service sector firms. By the late 1990s, however, such firms accounted for approximately 30 percent of the Nation's total industrial R&D expenditures, with a fairly large amount of the effort being directed toward the development and use of information technologies. Industry's increasing reliance on research and technology outsourcing also apparently has contributed to the service sector's substantial R&D expansion. This paper documents recent trends in US non-manufacturing R&D expenditures, highlighting their growth and focus and the difficulties in measuring these trends, as available from national R&D statistics. Broad comparisons with trends and concerns identified through other countries' surveys of service sector R&D are presented.     

The Effects of University Patenting and Licensing on Downstream R&D Investment and Social Welfare

A central argument behind the Bayh-Dole Act presumed that firms had no incentives to invest in downstream R&D aimed at developing university inventions committed to the public domain. The empirical evidence on university patenting and licensing is partly at odds with the premises of this argument. Non-exclusive licensing of university patents has been common and lucrative, and in the area of biomedical technologies university patents and licensing restrictions may be a hindrance to downstream R&D, rather than a stimulus. The paper presents a model of R&D competition based on a university invention where appropriability conditions are defined by the patentability of downstream innovations and imitation opportunities. A comparison of equilibria under “open access” to university inventions and under “university patenting” shows that only under restrictive conditions the latter regime results in increased R&D investment and social welfare. In general, university licensing royalties are therefore a poor gauge of social welfare gains from university patenting. This is an extensive revision of the paper “University Patents, R&D Competition, and Social Welfare” presented at the conference on University Spin-Offs at the Université du Québec à Montréal on February 27th, 2004. I would like to thank the conference participants and a referee from the journal for useful comments and suggestions.     

The structure and dynamics of the global network of inter-firm R&D partnerships 1989–2002

Research and development (R&D) partnerships are formed to share the risks and benefits of R&D. At the macro level, they result in a globe-spanning network that can be a valuable source of international knowledge spillovers. This network is the subject of a considerable body of literature. Often-made claims are that R&D collaboration is an important activity in a competitive environment, but that the importance of international partnerships has declined over time. Furthermore, it is claimed that collaborations are disproportionally concentrated within the developed economies. However, this literature fails to account for variations in the sizes of underlying firm populations between countries and over time. We argue that these population sizes create an opportunity structure of available collaboration partners for firms, and that ignoring variations in this structure potentially leads to erroneous conclusions about the structure and dynamics of the R&D network. To address this problem, we study the structure and dynamics of the global R&D network on an international and cross-industry scale using longitudinal data for 1989?C2002. We integrate data on public firms and their R&D partnerships and confront earlier findings with our data and a set of methods, which enables us to correct for the structure and dynamics in the firm population. While our study confirms previous findings concerning the worldwide trend in collaborative activity, it also shows that results on individual countries need correction. In particular, the importance of R&D collaboration for US companies is overestimated, while their openness towards foreign partners is underestimated.     

Technology dissemination programmes and extramural R&;D support in India

This article offers a brief overview of the programmes in place for the provision of financial support to entrepreneurs and R&D organizations for technology commercialization and dissemination in India. Financial assistance is provided under these programmes to the industrial enterprises and R&D organizations by the Government of India for undertaking the development of new technology based products. Technology financing under these programmes is provided in the form of: grants, loan, and/or equity with the aim to strengthen the linkages of R&D laboratories with industry, as well as for the production of technology based products for the domestic and global market. Extramural funding agencies of the central government departments such as DSIR & DBT are involved in mainly the provision of financial support for R&D.     

University spillovers into small technology-based firms: channel, mechanism, and geography

This study examines how university knowledge spills over into small technology-based firms in Japan. Estimated Heckman selection models taking into account the timing of university-industry research collaboration and geographical proximity to spillover pools reveal that cooperative research with universities positively affects R&D productivity of small technology-based firms with a three-year lag. Among small technology-based firms that collaborate with universities in research, firms with local ties have a greater advantage in improving the quality of their R&D personnel through the acquisition of complementary knowledge. Theoretical and policy implications of empirical results are discussed.     

Relative importance of external R&D: Trends and motivations

This paper reports the findings of our survey study of the methods firms use to generate new basic and applied research and development (R&D). By far, the most important source of new R&D are the firms' in-house programs. This finding holds for firms of all sizes. External R&D arrangements are most common for basic research, although most firms indicated that in the future they expect to increase their reliance on external sources for applied R&D. Small firms tend to acquire technology from the provider, whereas larger firms seem to utilize licensing agreements for gaining access to the results of R&D. Large firms may also be using more of a portfolio approach to external R&D in that they often use several different sources. They also appear to form their outside R&D ventures not only for traditional cost/risk-sharing reasons but also for strategic and competitive reasons. Their attempts to diversify their sources of technology are just as important as the traditional cost- and risk-sharing motivation. Finally, although some collaborative R&D ventures are in response to foreign competition, this appears to be of more concern to mid-sized firms than small or large ones.     

Maximizing R&D investments in the Department of Energy's Environmental cleanup program

The investment made in research and development (R&D) by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Environmental Management (EM) program must result in products that will significantly benefit the Department's cleanup efforts. A customer-oriented decision-making process for managing technology development is needed to appropriately link technology development activities with cleanup operations. This paper presents a process for R&D management, which we have named the Technology Investment Decision Model.The model identifies six R&D stages leading to technology implementation. The model incorporates decision points (or “gates”) within the R&D process where projects are selected for funding. The purpose of this “stage-gate” process is to ensure early evaluation of projects against technical and nontechnical criteria in order to ensure that end products will not only provide superior performance, but also meet the acceptance requirements of the intended customers. The model addresses the technology transfer and commercialization factors that must be considered to get technological innovations into the marketplace. The model is now being implemented within the EM technology development program and is providing a common framework to align the Department's environmental R&D activities with its cleanup goals.     

Firm heterogeneity,absorptive capacity and technical linkages with external parties in Italy

While it is widely acknowledged that internal R&D is a fundamental source of the ability to absorb, select and use external knowledge, severe data limitations prevent from capturing differences across firms in this respect. Using a novel dataset supplied by the Italian Bureau of Statistics, we highlight that, when controlling for internal R&D efforts, not all firms are equally prone to gain access to external technology, and to the knowledge provided by universities in particular. We find that firms which do not only perform R&D activities but also belong to a group exhibit a higher propensity to access external knowledge by either contracting out R&D or cooperating with external parties, as compared to independent firms that are not organized into groups. This premium persists when controlling for different measures of internal R&D efforts. Furthermore, the differential in the propensity to access external knowledge is particularly high in the case of R&D performers belonging to foreign groups, i.e. Italian affiliates of foreign owned companies; and it is even higher in the case of the few Italian firms that have R&D activities abroad. The relative dis-advantage of independent firms, which represent the bulk of the Italian industry and include most small and medium sized enterprises, appears to be less of an obstacle in the case of linkages with universities, especially when R&D contracting out is considered.     

Factors influencing technology transfer: The case of China

Transferring and utilizing technology in developing economies is a vital issue for economic growth. Often the separation between R&D institutes and industrial concerns limits the transfer of technology. The People's Republic of China, which has conducted R&D in institutes separate from the potential user firms, has recently moved to facilitate domestic technology transfer from R&D institutes to R&D consumers. This study, based on the statistical analysis of 60 R&D institutes in the machinery sector in China, found that, while R&D intensity improves transfer of technology, funding and employee mobility hinders transfer. His special area is in science and technology policy. He had worked for the State Science and Technology Commission of China for six years before he came to the US.     

Research collaboration in the European community: Lessons for the US

Research collaboration between government, universities, and industry, as well as among member nations, has been a prominent strategy in the European Community's science and technology policy through the 1980s and into the 1990s. In the perspective of the Single European Act and 1992 Plan, this paper outlines the lessons from European research collaboration for the United States. The structure of the European Community's cooperative R&D programs are reviewed and support for the development of advanced materials is highlighted. In the context of the benefits from the European Community's programs, five policy implications can be discerned for the US: establishment of forums for industry and government to dialogue about research priorities, institution of programs to promote strategic industrial R&D through cost-sharing, encouragement of small and medium-size firms to cooperate in R&D in high-technology sectors, monitoring of European research and development programs, and development of reciprocity policies for foreign-company membership in national collaborative R&D programs. Mary T. Tyszkiewicz is senior research associate in the Technology and Information Policy Program at Syracuse University. She has an MS in inorganic chemistry from Iowa State University and MSc. in Science, Technology, and Industrialization from the Science Policy Research Unit at University of Sussex in Brighton, England.     

Doing technology transfer in federal laboratories (Part 1)

According to data from the Congressional General Accounting Office and the Association of University Technology Managers, the federal laboratories seriously lag some universities in rates of technology transfer. This paper, based on interviews with technology-transfer professionals in federal laboratories and universities, discusses the phenomenon of technology transfer, highlighting subjects such as technology push and market pull, cooperative R&D, technology licensing, start-up companies, information-dissemination and technology-search programs, technology transfer and local development, models of technology-transfer programs, limits to federal technology transfer, and measurement of technology transfer. It concludes that the explanation for the difference in technology-transfer rates between federal laboratories and universities is due primarily to the way technology-transfer opportunities are marketed in the two sectors.     

Exploring the Patent Explosion

This paper looks more closely at the sources of patent growth in the United States since 1984. It confirms that the increase is largely due to U.S. patenters, with an earlier surge in Asia, and some increase in Europe. Growth has taken place in all technologies, but not in all industries, being concentrated in the electrical, electronics, computing, and scientific instruments industries. It then examines whether these patents are valued by the market. We know from survey evidence that patents in these industries are not usually considered important for appropriability, but are sometimes considered necessary to secure financing for entering the industry. I compare the market value of patents held by entrant firms to those held by incumbents (controlling for R&D). Using data on publicly traded firms 1980--1989, I find that in industries based on electrical and mechanical technologies the market value of entrants' patents is positive in the post-1984 period (after the patenting surge), but not before, when patents were relatively unimportant in these industries. Also, the value of patent rights in complex product industries (where each product relies on many patents held by a number of other firms) is much higher for entrants than incumbents in the post-1984 period. For discrete product industries (where each product relies on only a few patents, and where the importance of patents for appropriability has traditionally been higher), there is no difference between incumbents and entrants.     

Spatial and industry proximity in collaborative research: evidence from Italian manufacturing firms

This paper attempts to check the existence of geographic and industry distance effects, alongside other microeconomic determinants, on firms’ decisions to engage in R&D collaboration. Physical distance is defined by geographical coordinates while the measure of industry distance is based on the trade intensity between sectors. The model specified here refers to the combined spatial autoregressive model with autoregressive disturbances and it is estimated through the spatial two stage least square procedure. The results show that both geographical and industry proximity, positively affect the decision to cooperate in R&D.     

Shaping the path to inventive activity: the role of past experience in R&D alliances

In this paper, we investigate a recurrent organizational event—R&D strategic alliances—and analyze its multidimensional effect on inventive activity; in particular, we examine the quality of the inventive process outcome. In so doing, we address the still-unresolved issue of the impact of past experience in explaining performance differences between firms in the realm of alliance inventiveness. Our results offer new insights concerning the crucial drivers of invention quality and technological breakthroughs. As expected, results suggest that—in the area of R&D—alliances formed by experienced partners are more likely to produce inventions that effectively synthesize technological knowledge from more diverse domains. In fact, experienced alliance partners are more likely to generate useful inventions with a greater innovative impact on others’ subsequent inventions—knowledge that can be built upon. Surprisingly, results are indeterminate with regard to whether innovation via R&D alliance increases invention’s degree of applicability across diverse scientific and technological fields that might cite its patent.     

Scalability versus flexibility: firm size and R&;D in Indian industry

This article has examined the impact of firm size on R&D spending for a panel of several thousand Indian firms, for a period of seven years from 1999–2000 to 2005–2006. The average levels of R&D spending are low but for firms that do undertake R&D the average levels of R&D spending are much higher. The results of the analysis for all the manufacturing sector firms have shown that larger firm size is associated with a higher probability of R&D spending. In non-linear estimation the squared term is negative denoting that after a particular threshold firm size has no effect on R&D spending. When only the R&D spending firms are evaluated then size has a mild impact on R&D spending and in a non-linear framework the effect of size disappears signifying that both the relatively smaller and larger firm alike seem to be motivated in building capabilities in the post-liberalization period of the Indian economy.     

What the design of an R&;D tax incentive tells about its effectiveness: a simulation of R&;D tax incentives in the European Union

Most industrialized countries apply special tax incentives to boost the R&D expenditures of firms. This study considers the design of such R&D tax incentives as applied in the European Union and simulates its effect on the post-tax R&D expenditures of firms in different industries and different profit/loss-situations by means of the simulation model European Tax Analyzer. Any restrictions and progressive tax incentives are explicitly taken into account. Our results indicate that for designing and measuring public support to R&D it is often not sufficient to focus only on tax rate effects of R&D tax incentives and the design of a tax incentive must be in accordance with the framing tax system in order to be effective. As soon as there are any limitations in place, our results suggest a considerably lower impact of R&D tax incentives on the post-tax R&D expenditures than the commonly used B-Index by the OECD. The results clearly illustrate the beneficial impact of immediate cash refunds for unused tax incentives.     

Extension services and intermediaries: Brokering federal technologies to smaller firms

Extension services and other organizations that assist small and medium-size firms can play an important role in brokering technology from federal laboratories and other R&D sources. They can help the firms identify and define their technology needs and can help interpret and apply federal-laboratory technologies to meet those needs. These are some of the conclusions of a recent Federal Laboratory Consortium project, designed and managed by INNOVATION ASSOCIATES and overseen by the National Association of Management and Technical Assistance Centers. Major recommendations resulting from the project include: a re-examination by Congress of the federal technology-transfer structure to eliminate redundancies and fill gaps; funding extension services to facilitate hiring of dedicated technology-transfer staff; and providing additional incentives and creating informal mechanisms that encourage federal laboratories to work with small firms. The author also recommends that extension services view relationships with federal laboratories as long-term development rather than short-term “fix-its,” provide proactive and continuous follow-up of small firms working with federal laboratories, and act as an advocate on behalf of small firms. The following article discusses the project and its findings. Observations, issues, and recommendations are found at the end of the article.