Doctoral Dissertation Research in Science of Science and Innovation Policy: Organizations and the Diffusion of Scientific Knowledge

科学科学与创新政策的博士论文研究：组织与科学知识的传播

• 批准号: 1158763
• 负责人: Scott Stern
• 金额: $ 1.35万
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-04-15 至 2013-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1158763&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Science; Innovation

The contribution of scientific research to economic growth is hardly controversial. Yet little is known about how scientific knowledge actually translates -- or fails to translate -- into economic gains. Historical examples of advances in science reveal that while some discoveries are commercialized right away, others remain unexploited for years, even decades, until their commercial potential is understood. Discerning why some discoveries get commercialized and others do not is very difficult, however, because the commercial value of the new knowledge cannot be ascertained unless commercialization actually occurs. Intellectual Merit: Do scientific discoveries have the same economic impact if they come from a university or from a firm? What are the characteristics of these academic or industrial organizations that would affect its impact in the marketplace? This project takes on the challenge of these questions by introducing a novel empirical strategy. It uses simultaneous discoveries to conduct the first "twin study of new knowledge." This method allows the researcher to compare the commercialization or non-commercialization of the same new knowledge emerging at the same time in two distinct environments.The project, which is divided into two parts, draws on interviews and archival data to study the overall patterns of how new knowledge is harnessed for commercial value and the mechanisms behind these patterns. It takes advantage of the applicant's original, pre-existing dataset of automatically and systematically identified simultaneous discoveries. Part I examines whether scientific findings are "trapped inside the ivory tower" i.e. whether they are less likely to be commercialized out of a university than out of a firm. Part II constructs a detailed analysis of a small number of cases of simultaneous discoveries. This allows for a more in-depth inquiry into how different types of organizational arrangements influence the prospects for commercialization. Broader Impacts: This research has immediate practical implications for the Science of Science and Innovation Policy as it will uncover the extent to which scientific knowledge that could be commercialized remains unused on laboratory shelves. Specifically, it increases our understanding of the role of different types of organizations in diffusing new knowledge. For instance, scientific collaboration, in addition to fostering the circulation of ideas, might increase the likelihood that new knowledge will be commercialized. There are immediate implications as to the conditions under which collaborative research ought to be supported. By encouraging organizational structures that foster the commercialization of scientific knowledge, SciSIP might be able to decrease the number of unused scientific discoveries.This interdisciplinary research is also of direct interest for economists, organization theorists, and sociologists of science given its insights into knowledge spillovers, the management of technological innovation, and competition in science. In addition, this research improves our understanding of strategies that business practitioners can implement in order to commercialize new scientific knowledge successfully. By investigating and breaking down exactly how organizations use and diffuse new scientific knowledge, this research enables a better management of knowledge commercialization, accelerating the spread of science into the economy, and increasing the economic impact of scientific research.

科学研究对经济增长的贡献几乎没有争议。然而，关于科学知识如何真正转化为--或未能转化--经济收益，人们知之甚少。科学进步的历史例子表明，虽然一些发现立即被商业化，但另一些发现仍未开发多年，甚至数十年，直到它们的商业潜力被理解。然而，辨别为什么一些发现被商业化，而另一些却没有，这是非常困难的，因为除非商业化真正发生，否则无法确定新知识的商业价值。智力价值：如果科学发现来自一所大学或一家公司，它们是否会产生同样的经济影响？这些学术或行业组织的特征是什么，会影响其在市场上的影响？本项目通过引入一种新的经验策略来应对这些问题。它使用同步发现来进行第一次“新知识的孪生研究”。该方法使研究人员能够比较同一新知识在两个不同环境中同时出现的商业化或非商业化。该项目分为两个部分，利用访谈和档案数据来研究新知识如何被利用于商业价值的总体模式以及这些模式背后的机制。它利用申请人的原始、预先存在的、自动和系统地识别的同时发现的数据集。第一部分考察了科学发现是否“被困在象牙塔里”，即它们在大学之外商业化的可能性是否低于在公司之外。第二部分构建了对少数同时发现案例的详细分析。这使得能够更深入地调查不同类型的组织安排如何影响商业化前景。更广泛的影响：这项研究对科学和创新政策具有直接的实际影响，因为它将揭示实验室货架上仍未使用的可商业化的科学知识的程度。具体地说，它增加了我们对不同类型组织在传播新知识方面的作用的理解。例如，科学合作除了促进思想的传播外，还可能增加新知识商业化的可能性。合作研究应该在什么条件下得到支持，这是有直接影响的。通过鼓励促进科学知识商业化的组织结构，本科学计划可能能够减少未使用的科学发现的数量。这种跨学科研究也是经济学家、组织理论家和科学社会学家的直接兴趣，因为它对知识溢出、技术创新管理和科学竞争有深刻的见解。此外，这项研究提高了我们对商业从业者可以实施的战略的理解，以便成功地将新的科学知识商业化。通过准确地调查和细分组织如何使用和传播新的科学知识，这项研究能够更好地管理知识商业化，加速科学进入经济的传播，并增加科学研究的经济影响。