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Academic Engagement, Commercialization, and Scholarship: Empirical Evidence from Agricultural and Life Scientists at U.S. Land-grant Universities

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  • Bradford L. Barham
  • Jeremy D. Foltz
  • Ana Paula Melo
Abstract
This article examines the involvement of agricultural and life science faculty at U.S. land grant universities in two types of university-industry relations: academic engagement (sponsored research, industry collaborations, and presentations), academic commercialization (patenting, licensing, and start-ups) and traditional academic scholarship. It exploits large-scale, random sample cross-section surveys of nearly 1,500 scientists at the original 52 Land Grant Universities in 2005 and 2015. We fill a knowledge gap regarding the prevalence, coincidence, intensity, importance and factors shaping faculty involvement in university-industry relations (UIR). After several decades of promotion and emphasis on UIR activities participation in them has plateaued and is stable at a fairly high level. Academic engagement is far more prevalent (at 76% of faculty) and important than is academic commercialization (at 19% of faculty). Academic engagement generates 15-20 times the research funds than academic commercialization does, but both continue to be dwarfed by public funding. We find evidence of synergies between UIR activities and academic scholarship. We also explore how individual, institutional, and university-level factors help explain faculty UIR participation. We find differences across academic disciplines and highlight the role that faculty attitudes toward science and commercial activity shape involvement in UIR. Significant differences also stem from university level effects and may be contingent on culture, history, location, and quality of science.

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  • Bradford L. Barham & Jeremy D. Foltz & Ana Paula Melo, 2020. "Academic Engagement, Commercialization, and Scholarship: Empirical Evidence from Agricultural and Life Scientists at U.S. Land-grant Universities," NBER Working Papers 26688, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26688
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    Cited by:

    1. Pierre Azoulay & Danielle Li, 2020. "Scientific Grant Funding," NBER Working Papers 26889, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Gawai, Vikas PD & Foltz, Jeremy D., 2023. "Discrimination in Science: Salaries of Foreign and US Born Land-Grant University Scientists," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322134, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Pierre Azoulay & Danielle Li, 2020. "Scientific Grant Funding," NBER Chapters, in: Innovation and Public Policy, pages 117-150, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

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