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The Heterogeneity of the Academic Profession: The Effect of Occupational Variables on University Scientists’ Participation in Research Commercialization

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Abstract

Do academics who commercialize their inventions have a different professional character than those who do not? The author conducted a nationwide survey in Hungary including 1,562 academics of hard sciences from 14 universities. According to the cluster analysis based on their participation in research commercialization (RC), university scholars can be divided into three distinct groups: ‘traditional faculty’ (56%), ‘market-oriented faculty’ (22%), and ‘academic entrepreneurs’ (22%). Traditional faculty members typically do not participate in RC, while, within the framework of the university, market-oriented academics are engaged in RC the most frequently. Academic entrepreneurs, in addition to their university positions, work for spin-off firms that commercialize research findings. Multinomial logistic regressions revealed that university scientists in various engineering fields, and especially in chemical technology, as well as in biotechnology and pharmaceutics have a considerably greater potential to engage in RC, similar to scholars with industry work experience, high number of publications, and professorial rank. Discipline, work experience, scientific performance, and academic rank seem to outweigh the effect of the university and its location on RC behavior. These findings underscore the inherent diversity of the academic profession and question the necessity of implementing uniform RC policies such as the Bayh–Dole model across universities, disciplines, and segments of university scientists.

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Notes

  1. The Bayh–Dole Act of 1980 created the legal framework for the collaboration of academic, government and private organizations by allowing universities to retain and commercialize the rights (e.g. by licensing them to a business) relating to the invention resulting from research activities carried out at the institution. University technology transfer offices have been attributed a crucial role in matching university research with industry needs (Brady et al. 2015).

  2. The Law on Research and Technological Innovation, effective as of 2005, allows universities in Hungary to retain title to inventions resulting from research activities pursued within the framework of the university. A new law on innovation took effect in 2015, which grants university-born inventions to the government; however, public research organizations may continue the practice of exercising the ownership rights of these IPs in the name of the central state, e.g. by establishing spin-off firms and taking equity positions in them.

  3. The exact number of the population is not easy to determine for various reasons. For example, some institutions in addition to ‘university faculties’ embrace faculties that are less research oriented and thus have a ‘college faculty’ status; I excluded them from the sample. Besides, the Hungarian Educational Authority does not publish data about academics hired in research positions in such detail as in the case of teaching positions.

  4. See, for example, Renault (2006): 14%; Ponomariov (2008): 38%; and Aldridge and Audretsch (2011): 36%.

  5. In Hungary, there are seven NUTS 2 regions, used as the bases for statistical analysis and economic planning in the EU.

  6. The standardized predictor importance value, ranging between 0.0 and 1.0, is obtained from the t-statistic distribution: it shows the relative contribution of each variable to the cluster formation (SPSS 2011). The greater the predictor importance value, the more critical the variable is in the formation of the clusters.

  7. One way to calculate odds ratios is by raising the mathematical constant e to the power of the logistic coefficient.

  8. According to the law on higher education (Act CCIV of 2011), ‘university professors’ have higher (international) academic experience/reputation and receive higher salaries than ‘college professors.’

  9. Their salaries are regulated by law, so academics can only increase the return on their human capital from external (non-university) sources, i.e. industry funds and government grants.

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  1. Business School, Nord University, Post box 1490, 8049, Bodø, Norway

    Adam Novotny

  2. Institute of Economic Science, Eszterházy Károly University, Egészségház u. 4, Eger, 3300, Hungary

    Adam Novotny

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Novotny, A. The Heterogeneity of the Academic Profession: The Effect of Occupational Variables on University Scientists’ Participation in Research Commercialization. Minerva 55, 485–508 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-017-9321-5

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