Working Paper: NBER ID: w9991
Authors: Jerry G. Thursby; Marie C. Thursby
Abstract: Understanding the nature of the involvement of faculty in university licensing is im-portant for understanding how technology is transferred through licensing as well as more controversial issues, such as the need for university licensing. Using data from a survey of firms that actively license-in from universities we explore the importance of faculty in the licensing and development of inventions, as well as how and why they are used and how the use of faculty relates to characteristics of firms. In particular we find that the use of faculty through sponsored research in lieu of a license is closely related to the amount of basic research conducted by firms whereas the use of faculty within the terms of a license is related to the prevalence of personal contacts between industry R&D researchers and university faculty.
Keywords: university licensing; technology transfer; faculty involvement
JEL Codes: J0; O31
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| faculty involvement through sponsored research (I23) | amount of basic research conducted by firms (D22) |
| amount of basic research conducted by firms (D22) | faculty involvement through sponsored research (I23) |
| personal contacts between industry R&D researchers and university faculty (O36) | use of faculty within the terms of a license (L24) |
| absorptive capacity (O36) | monitoring of faculty efforts (A14) |