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Effects of university characteristics on scientists’ interactions with the private sector: an exploratory assessment

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Abstract

This paper estimates the effect of select university characteristics on the propensity of individual scientists to interact with private sector companies. The academic prestige of an institution has a direct negative effect on scientists’ interactions with the private sector, while the level of industrial R&D expenditures has a direct positive effect on such interactions. Institutional characteristics also moderate the effect of some individual-level variables such as tenure status, grant activity, involvement with students and disciplinary effects.

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Acknowledgements

The research reported here was supported by grants from the NSF “Assessing R&D Projects’ Impacts on Scientific and Technical Human Capital Development” (SBR 98-18229, PI B. Bozeman), and “University Determinants of Women’s Academic Career Success” (REC-0447878, PI M. Gaughan). Special thanks to G. Yalcintas of SUNY, and W. Streitz and C. Burke of UC who kindly provided desegregated patent counts for each of the campuses within their respective university systems. Many thanks to P. Boardman and K. Johns for their comments on early drafts. Any opinions and mistakes in the paper are the author’s.

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Correspondence to Branco L. Ponomariov.

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Ponomariov, B.L. Effects of university characteristics on scientists’ interactions with the private sector: an exploratory assessment. J Technol Transfer 33, 485–503 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-007-9047-x

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