Capturing Knowledge: Private Gains and Public Gains From University Research Partnerships

Capturing Knowledge explores the extent to which knowledge transferred from a university to a firm or group of firms through a research partnership results in short-term private gains to a firm as well as to long-term public gains to society. It is descriptive in nature with the goal to appeal not only to academic researchers but also to reach students and learned individuals. Following a brief review of the extant academic literature Section 2, Section 3 summarizes the Small Business Innovation Act of 1982, which created the U.S. Small Business Innovation (SBIR) program. Descriptive information about universities as research partners in SBIR projects is presented in Section 4. The descriptive empirical analyses presented in Section 5 focus on the impact of university research partnerships on the performance of SBIR-funded projects and firms. They emphasize the private gains to the firm from its research involvement with a university and explore the presence of public gains. Concluding remarks are offered in Section 6.