The inventive capacity of South African universities and researchers is investigated through analysis of university patent applications. Patent applications to the South African Patent office from 1996 to 2006 are used as an indicator of inventive capacity.The investigation determines, for the first time, patenting activities of local universities at the South African Patent Office for the past 10 years and it identifies the performance of faculties and departments. We suggest that patent analysis of local patent offices in developing countries provides a more comprehensive picture of inventive activity than the analyses in the main patent offices in USA and Europe.The assertion that industrial experience affects the inventiveness of academic staff is also investigated. The study finds that most inventors or co-inventors held at least one position in industry, or in some cases, specialized parastatals (non-university institutions) prior to patent application. The study supports the idea that experience and the professional trajectory of scientists through migration from industry to university leads to an increase of researchers' scientific and technical human capital which is convertible into high performance or inventive capacity. We argue that this linkage is valid equally in developed and developing countries (like South Africa) and that universities internationally wishing to improve their entrepreneurial character should aim to employ academic with industrial prior experience.
a b s t r a c tThe present study investigates whether activities related to the patenting of inventions impede or are in conflict with the academic performance of university professors, particularly the publication or the production of public knowledge. The Poisson regression model is used taking into account the confounding effects of other variables deemed to affect the publication productivity, viz.; research/faculty orientation, collaboration, etc. The study is conducted in South Africa, where university R&D is highly funded by the private sector, compared to other countries, viz. USA, UK, Germany, etc. Furthermore, within the South African institutions of learning, there are more incentives to publish than to invent. It is found that: (i) inventiveness and academic performance can co-exist and re-enforce each other, (ii) professors who are inventive have a broader network of researcherscollaborators and (iii) perform highly academically (from the NRF-rating perspective) and publish more than those who do not invent at all.
The selectivity obtained in the aromatization of propane over Zn-ZSM-5-based catalysts (Si/Al nominal ratio = 35) increased from about 69% (carbon basis) to 74-91% when a second transition metal ion is introduced into the catalyst. The effect, previously reported for the case of Fe 3? ions, has now been shown to be more general and is seen also for the ions of chromium, cobalt or manganese. It is likely that these ions are present under aromatization conditions in a partially reduced state. H 2 /D 2 isotope exchange rates show large enhancements on the reduced Fe-Zn/ZSM-5 and Co-Zn/ZSM-5 samples. This aspect of aromatization catalysis has not been reported before.Keywords Aromatization Á Alkanes Á Zinc-zeolites Á Transition metal ions Á H 2 /D 2 exchange
IntroductionLight alkane aromatization over zeolite-based catalysts is well known [1, 2] and has been applied to the upgrading of liquefied petroleum gas using the BP/UOP Cyclar Process [3]. Particular research efforts have been directed at zinc-or galliumcontaining zeolites of the ZSM-5 type since these catalysts are, in favorable form, capable of permitting the achievement of high BTX (Benzene, Toluene and Xylene) selectivities [1,2,[4][5][6][7]. A recent assessment of the performances of these types of
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