This paper provides a new and systematic characterization of 488 universities (HEIs) coming from 11 European countries: Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and UK. Using micro indicators built on the integrated Aquameth database, we characterize the European university landscape according to the following dimensions: history of foundation of universities, dynamics of growth, specialization patterns, subject mix, funding composition, differentiation of the offering profile and productivity.
The increasing public and institutional support for university patents has opened two major sources of debate: First, does this emphasis affect the quality of research? Second, are university patents an effective mechanism for university-industry interaction? Our aim is to address both questions by clarifying the nature of university patents as outputs of different types of research and inputs of diverse instruments of interaction. We focus on the case of the Polytechnic University of Valencia at departmental level. We first construct a patent production function to discriminate what kind of research gives rise to patents and, second, several funding functions to find for which instruments patents are a better input. University patents appear to be an output of costly and long-term oriented research, either publicly or privately financed -in this latter case, through an indirect effect, the provision of industrial knowledge-, and also the input of a certain type of interaction -not through licensing but through signalling competencies. The fear that university patents affect negatively the quality of research is not justified, as they are the outcome of research at the frontiers of science. However, it is true that university patents only stimulate interaction with those firms that have enough absorptive capacity. If interaction with less capable firms is intended, other instruments are required.
Abstract:The significance and popularity of the cluster and industrial district concepts claim for a deeper reflection. The analysis of one of the European Commission's (EC) policy documents shows inconsistencies that do not impede the formulation of normative statements. That way we answer the question of why and how cluster ideas have substituted industrial district principles and the consequences derived from that phenomenon.
This article presents the results of an analysis of the relationship between public sector research and industry development in the field of biotechnology in a peripheral region of the European Union: the Region of Valencia (Spain). It contributes empirical data on the delocalized impact of research‐industry relations in a globalized economy. It also uncovers a gap between a relatively well‐developed public research sector in biotechnology and a weak biotechnology industry. The analysis raises questions as to the role of the concept of predominantly local knowledge communities in regional innovation systems, as well as the model of linear technological development, both of which exert an important influence on decision making in research and development (R&D) and innovation. A high level of R&D is shown to be a necessary condition for stimulating innovation, but does not suffice. Rather, R&D must be integrated with a number of different actions to correct deficiencies in the regional innovation system.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.