Has Licensing Changed Academic Research? Issues of Productivity, Faculty Incentives, and Public Policy

许可改变了学术研究吗？

• 批准号: 0094573
• 负责人: Marie Thursby
• 金额: $ 10.48万
• 依托单位: National Bureau of Economic Research Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-03-01 至 2005-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0094573&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Licensing; Changed; Academic; Research; Issues

This research examines the role of faculty in the increasing trend for U.S. universities to engage in patent licensing. The focus is on the characteristics of individual inventors and the role of licensing in the conduct and dissemination of their research. Since 1980, the Bayh-Dole Act has allowed U.S. universities to own and license results from federally funded research, and license-related activity has increased dramatically. Universities cite increased licensing activity as evidence of their increasing contribution to the economy while skeptics question the impact. Critics claim that potential financial returns from licensing have diverted faculty from more basic to applied research. This research is based on a panel database of the research and licensing activity of six to seven thousand faculty members in major U.S. research universities, including Cal Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Harvard, MIT, Pennsylvania, Penn State, Purdue, Stanford, Wisconsin, and Texas A&M. These universities have been selected because of their status as major research universities and their commitment to provide data. Most data cover at least the period 1988-1999. With these data, one can examine the evolution of faculty behavior over time and the extent to which it is related to individual characteristics or to environmental factors. Differences in patterns across universities and disciplines can be examined. Three major issues are addressed: i. Does the increase in university licensing over the last decade reflect a shift away from fundamental research and/or an increased willingness of faculty to participate in licensing as well as publish the results of their research? ii. How is the propensity of faculty to disclose inventions (i.e., file a report with the university when they believe a research result has commercial/license potential) re-lated to individual characteristics (e.g., publication record, research sponsorship) and other characteristics (e.g., academic discipline, university and/or department effects)? iii. What is the life-cycle behavior of inventors with respect to research, publication, and license-related activity? The basis of the research is a life-cycle model in which faculty can choose to engage in basic or applied research and where licensing activity as well as publication is possible. This theoretical model suggests three empirical models of research productivity. One deals with publication activity, while the other two deal with licensing activity and basic relative to applied research over the life cycle. For each model empirical results are based on annual data for individual scientists and engineers. The method of analysis is Tobit and logit regression analysis. Preliminary results based on 602 Purdue faculty over the period 1983-96 tend to support the theoretical model. Further, there appear to be changes over time in licensing activity, but little or no changes over time in publication activity or the basic/applied nature of faculty research. Results will be reported in publications and relevant professional meetings.

这项研究探讨了教师在美国大学从事专利许可的日益增长的趋势中所扮演的角色。重点是个人发明者的特点和许可证在进行和传播他们的研究中的作用。自1980年以来，Bayh-Dole法案允许美国大学拥有并许可联邦资助的研究成果，与许可相关的活动急剧增加。大学引用增加的许可活动作为他们对经济贡献增加的证据，而怀疑论者则质疑其影响。批评者声称，许可证的潜在经济回报已经将教师从更基础的研究转移到应用研究。这项研究是基于一个面板数据库的研究和授权活动的六千至七千名教师在美国主要的研究型大学，包括加州理工学院，卡内基梅隆大学，康奈尔大学，哈佛，麻省理工学院，宾夕法尼亚州，宾夕法尼亚州立大学，普渡大学，斯坦福大学，威斯康星州，得克萨斯州A M。这些大学之所以被选中，是因为它们作为主要研究型大学的地位以及它们提供数据的承诺。大多数数据至少涵盖1988-1999年期间。有了这些数据，人们可以研究教师行为随时间的演变，以及它与个人特征或环境因素相关的程度。可以研究不同大学和学科之间的模式差异。主要讨论三个问题：一。在过去十年中，大学许可证的增加是否反映了从基础研究的转变和/或教师参与许可以及发表研究成果的意愿增加？ 二.教师如何倾向于披露发明（即，当他们认为研究结果具有商业/许可潜力时向大学提交报告）与个人特征有关（例如，出版记录、研究赞助）和其他特征（例如，学科、大学和/或系所的影响）？ 三.在研究、出版和许可相关活动方面，发明人的生命周期行为是什么？研究的基础是一个生命周期模型，教师可以选择从事基础或应用研究，并在许可活动以及出版是可能的。这一理论模型提出了三种研究生产率的经验模型。一个涉及出版活动，而其他两个涉及许可活动和生命周期中与应用研究相关的基本活动。对于每个模型，经验结果都是基于科学家和工程师个人的年度数据。分析方法采用Tobit和logit回归分析。基于602普渡大学教师在1983年至1996年期间的初步结果往往支持的理论模型。此外，随着时间的推移，许可活动似乎有所变化，但随着时间的推移，出版活动或教师研究的基本/应用性质几乎没有变化。 结果将在出版物和相关专业会议上报告。