Media Coverage and the Commercial Diffusion of Scientific Knowledge

科学研究对企业的技术进步至关重要，但科学知识的商业利用面临着重大挑战。尽管科学知识是可以获得的，但如果它被应用到商业上，它往往仍然被困在象牙塔里。这个项目的重点是向企业传播科学信息，以及为专家量身定制的科学论文的复杂性所造成的障碍。这种复杂性阻碍了非专家和公众的理解和有效利用。简化科学信息并将其传播给更广泛的受众，可能会加强科学的商业传播。为了探索这一点，研究人员调查了媒体报道（由科学新闻稿支持）的作用，这在关于科学商业化的文献中被低估了。该项目涉及三个关键的研究问题：(a)媒体报道对推动商业化的因果影响是什么，影响到什么程度？(b)哪类科学家和公司从媒体报道中受益？(c)科学媒体报道推动商业传播的机制是什么？为了回答这些问题，研究人员编制了一个独特的数据集，将来自100多家美国研究机构的科学新闻稿与生物学领域的科学文章和与商业应用相关的专利论文引文相匹配。他们采用了一种创新的研究设计来进行因果推理，利用大学新闻信息办公室的能力限制来生成类似质量文章的新闻发布可能性的随机变化。通过研究媒体报道如何以及何时能够促进传播，该项目将为解决有限的科学商业化挑战提供有价值的见解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Scientific research is vital for technological advancements in firms, yet the commercial utilization of scientific knowledge faces significant challenges. Despite the availability of scientific knowledge, it often remains trapped in the ivory tower, if it is ever applied commercially. This project focuses on the diffusion of scientific information to firms, and the barrier created by the complexity of scientific papers tailored for experts. This complexity hampers comprehension and effective utilization by non-experts and the public. Simplifying scientific information and communicating it to a broader audience can potentially enhance the commercial diffusion of science. To explore this, the researchers investigate the role of media coverage (supported by scientific press releases), which have been underemphasized in the literature on the commercialization of science.The project addresses three key research questions: (a) What is the causal impact of media coverage on driving commercialization, and to what extent? (b) Which types of scientists and firms benefit from media coverage? and (c) What are the mechanisms through which scientific media coverage drives commercial diffusion? To answer these questions, the researchers have compiled a unique dataset that matches scientific press releases from over 100 US research institutions with scientific articles in the field of biology and patent-to-paper citations related to commercial applications. They employ an innovative research design for causal inference, leveraging capacity constraints at university press information offices to generate random variation in press release likelihood for articles of similar quality. By examining how and when media coverage can facilitate diffusion, this project will contribute valuable insights to addressing the challenge of limited scientific commercialization.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.