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

科学研究对经济增长的贡献几乎没有争议。 然而，人们对科学知识如何实际转化或未能转化为经济收益知之甚少。科学进步的历史例子表明，虽然有些发现立即被商业化，但其他发现在其商业潜力被理解之前仍然存在多年，甚至数十年。 然而，要辨别为什么有些发现被商业化而另一些没有被商业化是非常困难的，因为除非商业化实际发生，否则无法确定新知识的商业价值。智力价值：科学发现如果来自大学或公司，是否具有相同的经济影响？这些学术或工业组织的特点是什么，会影响其在市场上的影响？本项目通过引入一种新颖的实证策略来应对这些问题的挑战。它使用同步发现来进行第一次“新知识的孪生研究”。“这个方法可以让研究人员比较在两个不同的环境下，同一时间出现的新知识的商业化或非商业化情况。这个项目分为两个部分，利用访谈和档案数据，研究新知识如何被利用以获得商业价值的整体模式，以及这些模式背后的机制。”它利用了申请人原有的、预先存在的自动和系统识别的同时发现的数据集。第一部分考察科学发现是否“被困在象牙塔里”，即它们是否不太可能在大学之外而不是在公司之外被商业化。第二部分对少数同时发现的案件进行了详细分析。这就可以更深入地探讨不同类型的组织安排如何影响商业化的前景。更广泛的影响：这项研究对科学和创新政策的科学有直接的实际影响，因为它将揭示可以商业化的科学知识在实验室货架上未使用的程度。具体来说，它增加了我们对不同类型的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。这对支持合作研究的条件有直接的影响。通过鼓励组织结构，促进科学知识的商业化，SciSIP可能能够减少未使用的科学发现的数量。这种跨学科的研究也是经济学家，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。通过调查和分解组织如何使用和传播新的科学知识，这项研究可以更好地管理知识商业化，加速科学在经济中的传播，并增加科学研究的经济影响。

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.