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

科学科学与创新政策的博士论文研究：组织与科学知识的传播

• 批准号: 1158763
• 负责人: Scott Stern
• 金额: $ 1.35万
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-04-15 至 2013-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1158763&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Science; Innovation

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.

科学研究对经济增长的贡献几乎没有争议。 然而，关于科学知识如何实际转化或未能转化为经济成就，知之甚少。科学进步的历史例子表明，尽管有些发现立即被商业化，但有些发现仍未开发数年甚至数十年，直到了解其商业潜力为止。 但是，辨别为什么有些发现会被商业化而另一些发现并不困难，但是，除非商业化实际发生，否则无法确定新知识的商业价值。知识分子的优点：科学发现是否来自大学或公司会产生相同的经济影响？这些学术或工业组织的特征是什么影响其在市场上的影响？该项目通过引入一种新颖的经验策略来应对这些问题的挑战。它使用同时发现进行第一个“新知识的双胞胎研究”。这种方法使研究人员可以在两个不同的环境中同时同时出现的相同新知识的商业化或非商业化。该项目分为两个部分，借鉴了访谈和档案数据，以研究如何利用新知识的整体模式来利用新知识的商业价值和这些模式背后的机制。它利用了申请人的原始，自动和系统地识别的同时发现的原始预先存在的数据集。第一部分研究了科学发现是否被“被困在象牙塔中”，即是否比公司外出商业化的可能性少于公司。第二部分构建了少数同时发现案例的详细分析。这可以对不同类型的组织安排如何影响商业化的前景进行更深入的询问。更广泛的影响：这项研究对科学和创新政策的科学具有直接的实际意义，因为它将发现可以商业化的科学知识在实验室货架上仍未使用的程度。具体而言，它增加了我们对不同类型组织在扩散新知识中的作用的理解。例如，除了促进思想的流通外，科学合作还可能增加新知识的商业化可能性。关于应支持的协作研究的条件有直接的影响。通过鼓励促进科学知识商业化的组织结构，SCISIP可能能够减少未使用的科学发现的数量。这项跨学科研究对经济学家，组织理论家和科学的社会学家来说也具有直接的兴趣，因为它的洞察力对知识溢流，技术创新的管理以及科学的管理以及科学的竞争。此外，这项研究改善了我们对商业从业人员可以实施的策略的理解，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扩散新科学知识，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。