Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka vilka hinder och motsättningar som rådgivare och forskare upplever i forskningskommersialiseringsprocessen inom högskolenära inkubatorer. Studien bör ses som en förstudie för att i ett senare skede kunna skapa en effektiv innovationsprocessmodell för högskolenära inkubatorer. Uppsatsens frågeställningar har undersökts ur ett innovationstekniskt perspektiv med hjälp av teorier om bland annat inkubatorer, innovationsprocesser och akademiskt entreprenörskap. Resultatet visar att det finns ett antal kulturkrockar som medför risk för att rådgivare och forskare talar förbi varandra. Andra hinder och motsättningar i forskningskommersialiseringsprocessen är skillnader i språkbruk, forskarens multipla roller, uppfattningar om arbetstempo samt att matchningen mellan entreprenör och forskare är svårorganiserad och tidskrävande. / This essay seeks to examine which obstacles and oppositions business coaches and researchersexperience in the research commercialization process in university business incubators. This studyshould be seen as a pre-study with the intention of contributing to later on building a newinnovation process model for university business incubators. Essay questions have been examinedfrom the perspective of innovation technology and are linked to theories about incubators,innovation processes and academic entrepreneurship. The result is that there is a number of culturalclashes that brings along a risk for misunderstandings between business coaches and researchers.Other obstacles and oppositions in the research commercialization process is differences inlinguistic use, the multiple roles of the researcher, interpretation of working pace and also that thematching between researcher and entrepreneur is time-consuming and hard to organize.

Universities around the world are increasingly engaging in activities of technology transfer, intensifying knowledge flows of academic-based research to firms. It is expected that these institutions play an active role in the development of the local economy. In fact, there was a sharp rise in patenting activities by universities over the last years. Moreover, universities have used different mechanisms to support university-industry technology transfer, as for example the implementation of regulatory frameworks and the creation of internal organizations aimed at facilitating interactions with firms. Although prior studies have comprehensively increased our understanding of the ways in which academic knowledge is disseminated, several important questions remain open. In this sense, the purpose of this dissertation is to investigate how university technologies are disseminated to firms, also examining the relationship between idiosyncratic attributes of universities, their regional context and university-industry technology transfer. The essays in this dissertation build on the knowledge spillover and technology transfer literatures, addressing different dimensions of the diffusion of academic knowledge. The dissertation consists of a general introduction, three essays, and a conclusion. The first essay relies on US patent databases, whereas the second and third use data in the context of Brazilian universities. Each essay, from a different perspective, explores dimensions that have not yet been addressed by prior literature. Investigating the dissemination patterns of technological knowledge embedded in university inventions is critical to understanding how and under circumstances scientific research disseminates and is deployed by firms. Along this line, this dissertation contributes to the field of innovation and technology management in several ways. / Universidades ao redor do mundo estão cada vez mais envolvidas em atividades de transferência de tecnologia, intensificando os fluxos de conhecimento da pesquisa acadêmica para empresas. Espera-se que essas instituições desempenhem um papel ativo no desenvolvimento da economia local. De fato, houve um crescimento significativo nas atividades de patenteamento por parte de universidades nos últimos anos. Além disso, as universidades têm utilizado diversos mecanismos para apoiar atividades de transferência de tecnologia, tais como a implementação de regulamentações e a criação de organizações internas destinadas a facilitar as interações com empresas. Embora estudos passados tenham ampliado de forma abrangente a nossa compreensão sobre a disseminação do conhecimento acadêmico, várias questões fundamentais permanecem em aberto. Desse modo, o objetivo desta tese é investigar como tecnologias acadêmicas são disseminadas para empresas, examinando também a relação entre atributos idiossincráticos das universidades, seu contexto regional e atividades de transferência de tecnologia. Os capítulos que seguem se baseiam nas literaturas de spillovers de conhecimento e transferência de tecnologia, abordando diferentes dimensões da difusão do conhecimento acadêmico. Esta tese consiste em uma introdução geral, três capítulos e uma conclusão. O primeiro capítulo baseia-se em dados de bases de patentes americanas, enquanto o segundo e terceiro usam dados no contexto de universidades brasileiras. Cada capítulo, de uma perspectiva diferente, explora dimensões que ainda não foram abordadas pela literatura. A investigação dos padrões de disseminação do conhecimento tecnológico embutido em invenções acadêmicas é fundamental para o entendimento de como e sob quais circunstâncias a pesquisa científica é disseminada e utilizada por empresas. Desse modo, esta tese contribui para o campo da inovação e gestão da tecnologia de diversas maneiras.

This study explores the basic social conditions for high-quality university research, and focuses on research in science and technology in Sweden. Swedish research policy has adopted more of a market perspective on academic research and its role in society. This has meant the promotion of competition between researchers, increased focus on efficiency at universities, and attempts to make academia harmonize more with industry and other actors. How do such policies affect the variety of perspectives within the academic system? How do they affect the positions and identities of individual academics? These issues are discussed through the concept of "relational tensions". Relational tensions refer to social strains arising when interacting actors have different perspectives. Relational tensions can stimulate creativity, but may also cause unproductive conflicts. The discussion is underpinned by interviews with university researchers and a case study of Uppsala BIO-X, a program to commercialize university research in biotechnology. Typical cases of relational tensions are identified. These concern both interpersonal relations and differences between organized science and industry. A notable observation concerns potential frustration of individual academics, as competition and efficiency tends to make their positions and identities more contested. Researchers cope with relational tensions in three identified ways: socialization, seclusion, and lateral authority. Socialization is natural and often necessary, but reduces the variety of perspectives. Seclusion serves to retain variety and independence, but reduces interaction with others. Lateral authority is to formally or informally lend a researcher more authority, which improves the chance of maintaining a variety of perspectives without reducing interaction. The sustained usefulness of academic research arguably depends on its ability to foster and communicate a variety of perspectives. Hence, (i) promoting lateral authority seems fruitful within academia and in relations between academia and industry, and (ii) encouraging competition and efficiency may to some extent be counterproductive. / Research Excellence and Science-Based Industrial Systems