9,039 research outputs found
University–industry linkages and academic engagements: individual behaviours and firms’ barriers. Introduction to the special section
No full textThe article introduces the special section on “University–industry linkages and academic engagements: Individual behaviours and firms’ barriers”. We first revisit the latest developments of the literature and policy interest on university–industry research. We then build upon the extant literature and unpack the concept of academic engagement by further exploring the heterogeneity of UI linkages along a set of dimensions and actors involved. These are: (1) Incentives and behaviours of individual academic entrepreneurs; (2) Firms’ barriers to cooperation with public research institutions; (3) Individual behaviours, incentives and organizational bottlenecks in late developing countries. We summarize the individual contributions along these dimensions. There are overlooked individual characteristics that affect the degree of engagement of academics and scholars in cooperating with other organizations, of which gender and the non-academic background of individuals are most crucial. The notion of academic engagement should be enlarged to aspects that go beyond the commercialization or patenting of innovation, but embrace social and economic impact more at large. From the perspective of the firm, barriers to innovation might exert an effect on the likelihood to cooperate with universities and public research institutes, most especially to cope with lack of finance or access to frontier knowledge. We finally propose a research agenda that addresses the challenges ahead. © 2020 Springer Natur
Knowledge as global public good
No full textThis chapter applies the framework of public goods to knowledge. It shows that knowledge has some characteristics of public good, such as being non‐rival in consumption and in the long run non‐excludable. But it also argues that knowledge cannot be transferred from producers to users at low or negligible costs: to effectively use knowledge, prospective users should devote time and energy to its assimilation. Consequently, free‐riding in knowledge is less likely to be successful than with other public goods. This has also important implications for national and global policies. Catching up countries need to implement policies of active learning if they really wish to get the benefit of knowledge. Intellectual property rights have the purpose of making knowledge institutionally excludable, and this contradicts the objective pursued by governments and international organizations to disseminate science and technology. It is finally argued that the normative implication of the global public goods analysis in the case of knowledge requires greater public investment and international cooperation
Decentralization and economic growth reconsidered. The role of regional authority
No full textMost of the empirical analysis explores the relationship between fiscal decentralization and economic growth within an institutional void. This paper investigates the connection between fiscal decentralization and economic growth in different institutional settings in 21 OECD countries over the period 1970–2010.We find that the pro-growth effects of fiscal decentralization depend critically on the authority of sub-national governments: tax decentralization leads to higher (lower) rates of economic growth when coupled with high (low) administrative and political decentralization. Tax decentralization is more conducive for growth if sub-national taxes accrue mostly from autonomous revenues such as property taxes. Overall, this provides evidence of institutional complementarities at work among decentralization dimensions leading to relevant insights for policy implications
Knowledge as global public good
No full textThis chapter applies the framework of public goods to knowledge. It shows that knowledge has some characteristics of public good, such as being non-rival in consumption and in the long run non excludable. But it also argues that knowledge cannot be transferred from producers to users at low or negligible costs: to effectively use knowledge, prospective users should devote time and energy to its assimilation. Consequently, free-riding in knowledge is less likely to be successful than with other public goods. This has also important implications for national and global policies. Catching up countries need to implement policies of active learning if they really wish to get the benefit of knowledge. Intellectual property rights have the purpose of making knowledge institutionally excludable, and this contradicts the objective pursued by governments and international organization to disseminate science and technology. It is finally argued that the normative implication of the global public goods analysis in the
case of knowledge requires greater public investment and international cooperation
The globalization of intellectual property rights
No full textThere is a heated debated – in academia and in policy circles – about the usefulness of a stronger global regime of intellectual property rights (IPRs). Supporters of strong IPRs argue that they will allow financing R&D and innovation and disseminating it across countries. Detractors respond that this will imply another burden on developing countries, making slower and more difficult their catching up. The introduction of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in 1994 has even further polarized these positions.
We argue that the relevance of IPRs in facilitating or obstructing technology transfer has largely been exaggerated. Innovation-based development is neither hampered nor facilitated by strong or weak IPRs, but rather by the willingness to invest resources in R&D, education, and infrastructures. While TRIPS have effectively represented an attempt to generate a global regime of IPRs, its economic effectiveness has been rather limited since enforcement and policing of IPRs infractions are still firmly in the hands of national authorities
The political economy of public research, or why some governments commit to research more than others
No full textDespite a generalised consensus about its economic benefits public research exhibits different patterns across countries. Why do some governments invest in public research more than others? By relying on political economy literature we investigate investment in public research as a choice shaped by the political institutions of countries. Studying a sample of 41 countries we find a robust relationship between public-funded research and parliamentary forms of government, proportional electoral rules, bicameral legislatures, and the presence of encompassing civic society organizations. The political economy perspective helps explaining the different patterns of public research observed in advanced countries and increases the understanding about how research is affected by the civil society
Quali politiche di investimento per la ricerca?
No full textIl testo è una raccolta di riflessioni elaborate dagli autori
sulla base di contributi provenienti da esperti in materia relativi
alle politiche, finalità di investimento e strumenti necessari
a migliorare le policy per favorire la ricerca. Il testo
porta alcune riflessioni sulla situazione della ricerca sia pubblica
che privata in Italia, e mostra la necessità di sviluppare
adeguati strumenti e investimenti in apprendimento, inteso
sia come ammodernamento del sistema educativo, sia come
apprendimento istituzionale. Il testo analizza in particolare
le misure di efficacia ed efficienza per rinvigorire il sistema
di ricerca italiano e ne sottolinea le innumerevoli problematiche
e gli scostamenti dagli standard internazionali.
Dall’indagine emerge che sarà difficile aumentare la spesa
in ricerca e sviluppo pubblica senza che si fornisca una
chiara idea di quali sono i benefici che vengono distribuiti
alla società, specie in una fase di contenimento della spesa.
Il capitolo si conclude con un’analisi delle prospettive per
la ricerca e sviluppo in Italia
Grasping knowledge in emerging markets: is this the case of Western pharmaceutical companies in China?
No full textThe traditional theory highlights the emerging issues related to the infringement of intellectual
property rights of indigenous people by foreign multinational enterprises (MNE).
By settling their branches in the developing world, MNEs are able to capture traditional
knowledge, register patents based on such principles and incorporate them into their products.
1 The industrialized countries win in this game.
What is the situation for China in the pharmaceutical sector, as for the Traditional Chinese
Medicine (TCM) and the growing presence in the country of foreign pharmaceutical
companies?
Analyzing the Chinese context, this type of exploitation of traditional knowledge seems
to have no place, for several reasons. Although China ranks among the emerging economies,
it does not seem a developing country. In terms of economic growth, China holds many
records in the world: from production, to exports, to import and foreign direct investments
(FDI). China’s economic development model is outward-oriented: attracting FDI and pushing
exports to leverage domestic growth. In any case, China can take advantage of an internal
market of over 1.4 million people. Domestic consumption, in the future, could be the driver
of a dynamic and long-lasting economic growth. China is self-sufficient and, in thisperspective, it could manage pharmaceutical sector development and the traditional medicine
market as well. China may be able to produce the products required to meet the needs
of its population regardless of the foreign pharmaceutical companies.
In this context, however, it is important to understand how the Chinese government
should act to foster internationalization and strengthen the position of Chinese companies
within the pharmaceutical sector. Is it appropriate that the Chinese government invests and
strengthens the pharmaceutical companies, through appropriate policies and economic
structures, so that they remain independent enough to take advantage of the development
of the internal market and of the protection of the rights related to TCM? Which is the best
solution to protect the interests of the Chinese population in the pharmaceutical sector?
These topics are addressed in this chapter. The chapter is divided into three parts. First,
we outline the characteristics of the Chinese economic growth. In the second part, we analyze
the domestic pharmaceutical market and its level of penetration by foreign multinational
companies. Finally, we describe the situation of the TCM sector, to evaluate the actual position
of Chinese as well as of foreign companies. Some final remarks close the wor
Varieties of decentralization, institutional complementarities, and economic growth. Evidence in OECD countries
No full text1. Introduction. 2. Varieties of decentralization, economic growth and institutional complementarities. 3. Measuring the three dimensions of decentralization. 4. The empirical strategy. 5. Results and discussion. 6. Conclusio
Who is swimming against the stream: is accumulation more creative than destruction?
No full textBook synopsis: The recent financial and economic crisis has spurred a lot of interest among scholars and public audience. Strangely enough, the impact of the crisis on innovation has been largely underestimated. This books can be regarded as a complementary reading for those interested in the effect of the crisis with a particular focus on Europe
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