Working Paper: NBER ID: w9825
Authors: Michael R. Darby; Lynne G. Zucker
Abstract: Metamorphic progress (productivity growth much faster than average) is often driven by Grilichesian inventions of methods of inventing. For hybrid seed corn, the enabling invention was double-cross hybridization yielding highly productive seed corn that was not self-propagating. Biotechnology stemmed from recombinant DNA. Scanning probe microscopy is a key enabling discovery for nanotechnology. Nanotech publishing and patenting has grown phenomenally. Over half of nanotech authors are in the U.S. and 58 percent of those are in ten metropolitan areas. Like biotechnology, we find that firms enter nanotechnology where and when scientists are publishing breakthrough academic articles. A high average education level is also important, but the past level of venture-capital activity in a region is not. Breakthroughs in nanoscale science and engineering appear frequently to be transferred to industrial application with the active participation of discovering academic scientists. The need for top scientists' involvement provided important appropriability for biotechnology inventions, and a similar process appears to have started in nanotechnology.
Keywords: nanotechnology; grilichesian breakthroughs; firm entry; scientific publishing; productivity growth
JEL Codes: O31; L63; L65; M13; O16; R12
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| scientific publication (Y90) | firm entry (M13) |
| grilichesian breakthroughs (B15) | productivity growth (O49) |
| top scientists involvement (O36) | appropriability (H82) |
| scientific involvement (C90) | successful commercialization (O36) |
| high average education level (I25) | firm entry (M13) |
| venture capital activity (G24) | firm entry (M13) |