The Contribution of Universities to Growth: Empirical Evidence for Italy

Abstract

New entrepreneurial ventures may represent a viable and effective mechanism to transform academic knowledge into regional economic growth. We test this notion for the Italian provinces between 2001 and 2006. We evaluate three outputs of academic activities: teaching, research and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) activities management. New ventures may be able to transform the mentioned outputs into improved economic performance. The findings show that the effects of academic outputs on provincial economic growth (all sectors) are appreciable when they are associated with sustained entrepreneurial activities in the province. It suggests that academic inquiry may provide new ventures with valuable commercial opportunities overseen by established companies. IntroductionHow does knowledge spur economic growth? The theories of endogenous growth use the informational characteristics of knowledge as introduced by Arrow (1962) to explain endogenous growth trajectories (Romer, 1986;Lucas, 1988). According to these theories, it is the generation of knowledge that spurs growth and such knowledge is partially appropriable as it spills over into the hands of third parties that in turn use it to generate new knowledge and useful ideas.Although endogenous growth theories have predicted general patterns of growth, they fail in explaining the several "paradoxes" that are currently crowding decision-makers'agendas. In fact, some scholars have contended that it is not investment in knowledge per se that spurs growth and thus competitiveness; rather, the critical facet of the economic relevance of knowledge is the commercialization of the results that knowledge produces (Acs et al., 2009;Audretsch and Keilbach, 2008;Braunerhjelm et al., 2010). These authors posit the existence of a "knowledge filter" between investment in new knowledge and its economic exploitation. Such a filter results from the inherent peculiarities of knowledge, as opposed to information itself. Knowledge generating activities produce uncertain economic results that are associated with high degrees of asymmetries between inventors and potential exploiters.High uncertainty and high asymmetries result in high transaction costs among economic agents (Audretsch, 2007).These characteristics become even more evident when knowledge is generated in academic laboratories. A strand of literature in the sociology and economics of science fields stresses that the incentive system in place within the academic community would rarely lead scientists to produce findings of immediate industrial application (Dasgupta and David, 1994;Merton, 1973;Stephan, 1996). The recent involvement of universities in technological development has in fact shown that whenever academic findings display potential technological applications, they are at an early stage of development and tend to serve a variety of industrial purposes (Colyvas et al., 2002;Jensen and Thursby, 2001;Piergiovanni and Santarelli, 2001).In such a context, entrepreneurship is seen as the main mechanism that ens...

Solving the knowledge filter puzzle: absorptive capacity, entrepreneurship and regional development

“…This hypothesis is similar to that of Carree et al (2014), but extends the latter's exclusive focus on university knowledge into broadly defined regional knowledge.…”

“…This relationship is significant at least at the 0.05 level. Therefore, entrepreneurship as a mechanism of penetrating the knowledge filter (Acs and Plummer 2005;Acs et al 2009b;Braunerhjelm et al 2010;Carree et al 2014) is further supported.…”

“…So far, scholars (Acs et al 2004;Acs and Plummer 2005;Braunerhjelm et al 2010;Carree et al 2014) have explored entrepreneurship as one mechanism of penetrating the knowledge filter. Entrepreneurs may play a role in commercializing new knowledge, which further leads to technological innovation and economic growth.…”

Spinning Out of Control? How Academic Spinoff Formation Overlooks Medical Device Regulations

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Configuring the Knowledge Diffusion Policy Portfolio of Higher Education Institutes

“…With instruction, higher education not only provides knowledge but also cultivates well-educated talent to advance the development of industrialization (Just & Huffman, 2009). Graduates from higher education institutes are in a significant channel to diffuse knowledge to industries and fulfill the development of an economy (Carree, Della Malva, & Santarelli, 2014). In recent decades, higher-education institutes have provided interdisciplinary, entrepreneurship courses to empower students to develop their abilities at problem solving, patent application (c2), entrepreneurship and business plan writing, which helps students learn how to set up start-ups (Albulescu & Albulescu, 2014).…”