The Evolving Research Enterprise

私人基金会对学术研究的资助在过去10年中大幅增长。越来越多的基金会采用一种模仿风险资本投资的新的战略筹资过程，其中项目成果由赞助商确定，并有一个具体的问题需要解决，根据他们的潜在贡献选择一个团队，并建立一个共同调查的社区，并在很长一段时间内提供资金。 这种新的资助模式起源于以疾病为导向的基金会，如迈克尔·J·福克斯（Michael J. Fox）和快速治愈基金会（Faster Cures），并正在扩散到联邦政府内的其他类型的基金会和机构，这表明这种新模式可能为科学探究提供优势。 然而，尽管基金会和战略资助模式的重要性越来越大，但人们对基金会是否能补充或替代其他资金来源，以及战略资助实践是否能增强美国研究企业的整体运作知之甚少。 本研究认为，在较大的大学研究企业的私人基金会资助的作用，以及影响-无论是在研究实践和研究成果-这种新的战略资助模式。 该项目描述了大学研究企业如何应对新的资金来源的需求，以及机构财政压力的增加，并呼吁更大的解决问题的相关性。智力价值：该项目使用一组不同的研究型大学的研究提案，资助项目和知识产权（IP）协议的详细记录，以做出三个智力贡献。首先，它探讨了私人基金会赞助提供了一种影响研究行为的新的研究资助模式的程度。其次，它比较了基金会的合同协议，采用战略实践来管理资助的项目，以其他赞助商的合同研究协议，以评估在何种程度上正在实施一个新的开放式创新模式。 最后，它评估了一般基金会，特别是风险慈善事业，在多大程度上补充或取代其他类型的资金来源。更广泛的影响：目前基金会和非营利组织资金的遗漏带来了一种混淆效应，这将在估计公共资金的影响时引入向下的偏差。这项研究扩大了学术研究的资金的讨论，承认基金会的作用，并进一步考虑资助策略和赞助研究协议中使用的合同条款的差异。 认识到这一丰富性提供了证据，用于衡量研究资金的影响和正在进行的辩论不同的研究资金策略的有效性。

Private foundation funding of academic research has grown substantially over the past 10 years. Increasingly, foundations employ a new strategic funding process modeled after venture capital investing, in which project outcomes are identified by the sponsor with a specific problem to be solved, a team is selected based their potential contribution and a community of common inquiry is created and funded over a long period of time. This new funding model originated with disease-oriented foundations, such as Michael J. Fox and Faster Cures and is diffusing to other types of foundations and agencies within the federal government, suggesting that this new model may offer advantages to scientific inquiry. However, despite the growing importance of foundations and strategic funding models, little is known either about whether foundations complement or substitute for other sources of founding or whether strategic funding practices can enhance the overall functioning of the American research enterprise. This study considers the role of private foundation funding in the larger university research enterprise as well as the impact -- both in terms of research practices and research outcomes -- of this new strategic funding model. This project describes how the university research enterprise is evolving in response to the demands of new funding sources coupled with increased institutional fiscal pressures and calls for greater problem solving relevance.Intellectual Merit: This project uses detailed records of research proposals, funded projects, and intellectual property (IP) agreements from a set of diverse research universities to make three intellectual contributions. First, it examines the extent to which private foundation sponsorship provides a new model of research funding that affects the conduct of research. Second, it compares the contractual agreements of foundations employing strategic practices to managing funded projects to the contractual research agreements of other sponsors to assess the extent to which a new open model of innovation is being implemented. Finally, it evaluates the extent to which foundations, in general, and venture philanthropy in particular, complement or substitute other types of funding sources. Broader Impact: The current omission of foundation and nonprofit funding presents a confounding effect that would introduce downward bias in the estimation of the impact of public funding. This study expands the discussion of the funding of academic research to recognize the role of foundations and further to consider differences in funding strategies and the use of contractual terms in sponsored research agreements. Recognition of this richness provides evidence useful for measuring the impacts of research funding and the ongoing debate about the efficacy of different research funding strategies.