Motivations for collaborating with industry: has public policy influenced new academics in Argentina?

Abstract

Between 2005 and 2015 a series of science, technology and innovation policies were deployed in Argentina among which academic research collaborations with industry was particularly fostered. This paper studies the effect of those policies on newer researchers, defined as those with PhD or postdoctoral scholarships, looking at their motivations to collaborate and, to some extent, at their actual collaborations with Industry. Our hypothesis is that those policies had a positive effect on young academics' perception of collaborations with industry, now conceived as a dimension of their job, and also on actual collaborations. To conduct our study, we used an original database constructed from an online survey answered by more than 600 newer researchers. Empirical results partly confirm our hypothesis: a direct policy encouraging collaborations by providing collaborative grants was not associated with actual collaborations, while orienting research towards strategic areas -defined by the Science and Technology Ministry-is.

Ciencia privatizada en América Latina

“…En este escenario, nos proponemos mostrar que las tendencias a la mercantilización y privatización de la ciencia pública en Latinoamérica no se limitan a la promoción de la colaboración entre academia e industria. De hecho, la misma ha tenido un limitado efecto en las culturas académicas locales especialmente en las áreas de ciencias sociales, humanidades, ciencias exactas y naturales, y en las ciencias de la salud (Rikap & Harari-Kermadec, 2019). Son en cambio otros criterios heterónomos los que ejercen mayor presión.…”