Harnessing the Benefits of Publicly-Funded Research

• Author: Pluvia Zuniga - Sacha Wunsch-Vincent
• Position: UNU Maastricht Economics and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology - Senior Economic Officer, Economics & Statistics Division, WIPO
• Pages: 35-38

p. 35WIPO | MAGAZINE

by Pluvia Zuniga, U NU Maastricht

Economics and S ocial Research Ins titute

on Innovation and Technol ogy and

Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, Senior Economic

Ocer, Economic s & Statistics Div ision,

WIPO

HARNESSING

the benets of publicly-funded

research

Over the last 3 0 years, high- income economi es have sought to maxi mize

the benets of publicly-funded research to accelerate knowledge transfer

and entre preneurshi p and to fuel innovat ion and economi c growth. As a

consequence, universities and public research organizations (PROs) in

these countries are becoming more strongly business-focused. In light of

the perceived benets of strengthening university-industry links, particularly

in terms of st imulating innovat ion and promotin g technology tran sfer, many

middle and l ow-income economies a re adopting simil ar approaches. Thi s is

causing an alysts to look more clos ely at these polici es. Can they be readily

exported f rom one settin g to another? Is un iversity pat enting an ef cient

driver of busi ness innovation? Wha t is the impact of such p olicies in terms of

economic growth and knowledge generation? WIPO Magazine’s third article

in the Innovat ion Trends series takes a clos er look at the evolving la ndscape

and consid ers the merit s of more active use o f the intellect ual propert y

(IP) system by un iversities an d PROs in middle and low er-income sett ings.

EVOLVING POLICY FRAMEWORKS

Public-private knowledge transfer occurs through a large number of formal channels

(including research collaboration, licensing university inventions, joint ventures, and

hiring university students and researchers) and informal channels (including publica-

tions and conferences). IP can also play a key role in ter ms of fuelling innovation and

driving business development through, for example, incubators, science parks and

university spin-offs.

There has been a marked tre nd over the past three decades in high-inco me econo-

mies – also more recently, in selected mid dle and low-income economies – toward

institutional ownership and commercialization of university and PRO inventions. Policy

frameworks and practice s are constantly evolving in both more and les s developed

countries giving ris e to a broadly diverse range of legal and policy a pproaches for

maximizing returns on publicly-funded research.

→

Research

and publications

Dissemination of knowledge via conferences,

seminars, meetings with industry and others

Education and training of students / researchers

recruited by the private sector

Consultancies, contract research, university-industry joint

research projects, joint research centers and PhD projects

Creation of IP available for licensing to

established rms and new start-up companies

Creation of spin-offs and other forms of

academic entrepreneurship of faculty or students

(with or without IP)

Public research

& education

Industry

& innovation