Universities, Innovation and Economic Growth (MOD)

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ABSTRACT: Studying the contributions of U.S. universities to the innovation process and National Income is important to understanding how our current economic status has been achieved and to how our international competitiveness may be maintained or increased. This project models a key component of the innovation system, particularly creation and deployment of knowledge and the flows of financial resources. The objectives of this work are to produce estimates of the contributions of various combinations of university resources, especially those of STEM units, to outcomes that represent intermediate steps in the innovation process and that contribute to NI and thus to U.S. competitiveness.The key insight of the project is that universities produce multiple outputs--for example supplies of highly skilled labor and new knowledge. The importance of this labor and technological development to the national economy has been well established in both classical and evolutionary economic theory. In addition, universities serve as support institutions for firms and industries. Universities contribute to intermediate outcomes that stimulate innovation processes and fuel the national economy. The primary emphasis is to use data to develop new models explaining the relationships among resource deployment in U. S. universities and intermediate (to National Income growth) university outcomes, particularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). These are outcomes that are important to U.S. economic growth and ultimately to international competitiveness and hence the models can be used to inform science and technology investment decisions.The project builds a relational meta data base that examines the relationships among resource deployment in U.S. universities and intermediate university outcomes related to innovation and economic growth. The data for the project are derived from a variety of sources at the institutional, departmental, and individual levels. Intermediate and final outcomes include wages paid, the production of graduates, patents, licenses, start-up and spin-off companies, consultancies, joint industry-university grants and contracts, job-training programs for firms? employees, and importantly, research papers. ?Inputs? related to these outcomes include various university resources: e.g., the human resources of university faculty, staff, and student workers; the time allocations of these individuals across teaching, research and service; and the allocation of the university?s own financial resources. BROADER IMPACTS: The benefits include advancing understanding of the relationships among resource deployment in U. S. universities and intermediate university outcomes in STEM fields. These are outcomes that are important to U.S. economic growth and ultimately to international competitiveness. Thus, the models can be used to inform science and technology investment decisions.