<p>Universities have come under increasing pressure to move further along the innovation continuum and supplement their traditional role in the conduct of basic research with more applied research activities. This trend reflects a shift in government expectations that public investments in basic research should produce a tangible economic return. However, it is not believed that conditions for success are presently in place to enable universities to maximize the returns to Canadian taxpayers. The focus of this thesis is to answer one question: How can we create a commercialization ecosystem around universities that lack such a system?</p> <p>The thesis consists of three studies that address that question from different perspectives. The first study sought an understanding of the role that technology transfer offices can play in growing a new commercialization ecosystem, with appropriate university support and in collaboration with intermediary organizations. In the second study, a value chain centered model was identified to better describe the process of commercializing university research. The model identifies two main stages of the commercialization process. The first upstream stage focuses on de-risking the opportunity, based on the characteristics inherent in an academic spin-off. The second downstream stage focuses on successful entry to the market. In the third study, we examined the role new Masters programs specializing in venture creation can play in commercializing university intellectual property. We addressed the contribution these programs can offer to support both the upstream and downstream stages within our commercialization model.</p> <p>Together, the three studies examined the current practices of commercialization in universities, identified an analytical framework for the commercialization process in universities, and finally tested the role of students in this framework. This framework leads to a deeper understanding of the commercialization process, specific to the university environment, and provides insights into how to develop a more entrepreneurial university.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This diploma thesis discusses the process of communication in new media environment and demonstrates it on the example of YouTube Beauty community which can be seen as an autonomous, independent space for expression and sharing of information. It introduces the specifics of communication in the environment of Beauty community and its characteristics. It discusses some theoretic concepts connected with communication in the environment of new media and also with the Beauty community, for example Web 2.0, citizen journalism, prosumption or the concept of internet as a new space of public discussion. It also discusses concept of political economy about how external especially commercial factors influence communication process and content of traditional media and connects it with influences of external commercial factors on communication in Beauty community. In qualitative research are explored factors that impact communication in this environment and also potential impact of external commercial factors on communications and its contents.

UBC's research community recently received a significant boost in financial support for five research hubs that will join the Centre for Brain Health as newly appointed national Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR). Two UBC economics professors were recognized with separate Bank of Canada awards: the Research Fellowship 2008 and the Governor's Award. UBC's Brain Research Centre has recevied $25 million from the Province of BC to establish a new facility focused on translational brain research.

Neoliberal ideologies have been adopted through most of the developed world. In North America, they dominate and provide the backdrop for the way decisions are made, organisations are governed, and policies are considered and implemented. Universities have not been exempt from the pressures of neoliberalism and increasingly are becoming what is being referred to as ‘corporatised’. Using a multi-institutional ethnographic case study, drawing on elements of institutional ethnography and using discourse analysis and interviews, this research focused on these topics with four research intensive universities in British Columbia: UBC, UNBC, UVic and SFU. This research sought to answer the question: In what ways is corporatisation visible in the practices and discourses related to university research in British Columbia, and, in turn, what impacts are being felt? The findings from the research indicated that there is, as might be expected, strong support for post-secondary education. The rhetoric in the documents from the universities and governments shows a ‘grand vision’ for education as the cornerstone of a successful society. The findings confirm that universities are viewed internally and externally as important and that, in turn, research and discovery is paramount. However, what the research also showed was that there are differing views among those in power regarding how that vision plays out. Those differences can be summarized as: citizen preparation versus job training; social innovation versus commercial innovation; targeted research (both in the type of research carried out and to what ends); and the level of autonomy of the university. These tensions can be considered through the theoretical frameworks that guided the research: commodification (i.e., of education and research); resource dependence theory; and institutional theory. Universities are increasingly being corporatised and this is visible in: increased oversight and control by governments with regard to the direction of the university, both from an educational and research perspective; an emphasis on the fiscal bottom line; increased accountability requirements (in complexity and frequency) related to funding for educational programs and research; increased demands for, and focus on, demonstrable impacts and quantifiable measures from research; a reduced amount of collegial governance; increased bureaucracy; and pressures to adopt business models, practices, and processes from the private sector. / Graduate

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La France, comme d’autres pays, cherche à valoriser son excellence scientifique et à augmenter la compétitivité de ses petites et moyennes entreprises (PME) pour tirer plein profit de l’innovation et soutenir la croissance économique et l’emploi. Il n’y a pas, ni en France ni ailleurs, une politique spécifique de soutien à l’innovation dans les PME mais des politiques scientifiques et de la recherche industrielle, en particulier en faveur des petites entreprises, et des politiques d’innovation, dans lesquelles peuvent être identifiées des mesures spécifiques visant à promouvoir le développement technologique et l’innovation dans les PME. Cette étude s’intéresse à la façon dont en France, à travers les différentes époques, ces politiques publiques sont définies et organisées et s’interroge sur l’efficacité et l’impact des interventions publiques dans le développement de capacité d’innovation des PME françaises. Elle se déroule en trois parties, en respectant une chronologie historique correspondant aux grandes étapes de l’évolution des politiques depuis les années 1960-1970 jusqu’à présent. Ces trois parties analytiques sont enrichies par l’analyse du cas de l’Agence nationale de valorisation de la recherche (Anvar). A la fin de ce travail, nous suggérons que la France entre dans une phase critique où des réformes structurelles doivent être menées pour assurer le développement de la compétitivité des PME et de l’innovation. / France, like other countries, seeks to promote its scientific excellence and to increase the competitiveness of its small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by taking full advantage of innovation to sustain economic growth and employment. In France as in other countries, there is no specific policy to support innovation in SMEs but both science and industrial research policies, especially for small businesses, and innovation policies, in which can be identified specific measures to promote technological development and innovation in SMEs. This study focuses on "how", in France, such public policies are defined and organized through different periods and it questions the effectiveness and impact of public interventions aimed at developing French SMEs’ innovation capacity. The study is divided in three parts, following a historical chronology corresponding to major stages of political evolution from the years 1960-1970 till now. These three analytical parts are enriched by a case analysis of the French National Agency for Valorisation of the Research (Anvar). At the end of this study, we suggest that France is now entering a critical phase in which structural reforms have to be undertaken in order to ensure French SMEs’ innovation and competitiveness.