This research investigates the relationship between those incentives for faculty support of university-industry technology transfer that are governed by university intellectual property policies and technology transfer outcomes at Canadian universities. <br /> Empirical research, chiefly conducted in the United States, has explored the link between the incentives that are governed by IP policies and various outcomes and found that financial incentives are correlated with a variety of outcomes. This research extends the literature by exploring the same underlying relationship, in Canada, where IP policies also determine ownership and control of the development of the IP; some universities retain control over the development and other universities let the ownership and control vest with the inventors. <br />The research question was pursued by conducting three studies, each of which provided a different perspective. The first study seeks to explain cross-institutional patterns in the numbers of patents held by Canadian universities using variables that represent the financial incentives and control offered to faculty inventors by the universities' policies. The second study investigated the impact of a policy change at the University of Toronto, using interrupted time series analysis techniques. The third study investigated the experiences of faculty inventors at the University of Waterloo through indepth interviews and thematic analysis of the resulting qualitative data. <br /> The first, cross-sectional study failed to generate statistically significant results. In the second, longitudinal study, the change from a "university-owns" to an "inventor-owns" policy appeared to have significantly and substantially increased the number of invention disclosures submitted to the University of Toronto by its faculty members. The third, qualitative study suggests that faculty members interpret the incentives governed by intellectual property policies and that this interpretation is shaped by group norms, academic leadership, university culture and the inventors' experiences with technology transfer support organizations. Therefore, Studies 2 and 3 indicate that university intellectual property policies are effective levers with which to stimulate university-industry technology transfer and thus deserve further study. The importance of university factors in Study 3 implies that intellectual property policies must fit with their organizational contexts in order to be productive. <br />This research also has important policy implications. Many governments have been attempting to emulate the American Bayh-Dole Act by introducing or changing national regulations affecting university IP policies. This research suggests that these national regulations may actually depress researcher support for technology transfer and thus the amount of activity at those institutions that would benefit from an alternate policy. In effect, standardization of university IP policies through national regulations may deprive university administrators of an effective lever for encouraging technology transfer on their campuses. This inference will be the focus of further research which will broaden the work documented in this dissertation by exploring the relationship between university IP policies, university-industry technology transfer, and university factors, including culture, across a wider range of universities.

Background and Research Problem: Universities are complex and diversified institutions playing an active role in society. Besides education and research universities are now assigned a new role of commercialization of academic research. There is pressure on universities to act as a bridge for transfer of knowledge to industries and generate resources. As this role of commercialization is comparatively new for the universities so they face challenges and difficulties in managing commercialization along with education and research. In order to overcome these challenges some support structures has been introduced in the form of Technology Transfer Office (TTO) or Industry Liaison Office (ILO). As the role and support structures are new, so there is a need to develop such a managerial system which can better integrate the activities related to commercialization of academic research.   Research Purpose: This is a case study of Umeå University conducted to understand and evaluate the commercialization activities and functioning of support structures. The specific purpose is to investigate and suggest that, how universities having support structures but lacking success stories and track records, should manage its commercialization activities.   Method: Qualitative research methods are used and semi-structured interviews have been conducted from eight respondents. Umeå University has been used as a case study. Concluding Comments: On the basis of this study we would like to comment that, Umeå University is committed to perform its third role of contribution towards society and there is adequate infrastructure available in terms of support structures. But still as this role is new for the university and carrying on commercialization activities while insuring freedom of research is a challenging task. So, a detailed evaluation of existing support structures and reorganization of their existing activities is required. It may also require better understanding and communication of the concept of commercialization, generation of new ideas and a greater attention, both from the support structures and central management of the university.

This research investigates the relationship between those incentives for faculty support of university-industry technology transfer that are governed by university intellectual property policies and technology transfer outcomes at Canadian universities. <br /> Empirical research, chiefly conducted in the United States, has explored the link between the incentives that are governed by IP policies and various outcomes and found that financial incentives are correlated with a variety of outcomes. This research extends the literature by exploring the same underlying relationship, in Canada, where IP policies also determine ownership and control of the development of the IP; some universities retain control over the development and other universities let the ownership and control vest with the inventors. <br />The research question was pursued by conducting three studies, each of which provided a different perspective. The first study seeks to explain cross-institutional patterns in the numbers of patents held by Canadian universities using variables that represent the financial incentives and control offered to faculty inventors by the universities' policies. The second study investigated the impact of a policy change at the University of Toronto, using interrupted time series analysis techniques. The third study investigated the experiences of faculty inventors at the University of Waterloo through indepth interviews and thematic analysis of the resulting qualitative data. <br /> The first, cross-sectional study failed to generate statistically significant results. In the second, longitudinal study, the change from a "university-owns" to an "inventor-owns" policy appeared to have significantly and substantially increased the number of invention disclosures submitted to the University of Toronto by its faculty members. The third, qualitative study suggests that faculty members interpret the incentives governed by intellectual property policies and that this interpretation is shaped by group norms, academic leadership, university culture and the inventors' experiences with technology transfer support organizations. Therefore, Studies 2 and 3 indicate that university intellectual property policies are effective levers with which to stimulate university-industry technology transfer and thus deserve further study. The importance of university factors in Study 3 implies that intellectual property policies must fit with their organizational contexts in order to be productive. <br />This research also has important policy implications. Many governments have been attempting to emulate the American Bayh-Dole Act by introducing or changing national regulations affecting university IP policies. This research suggests that these national regulations may actually depress researcher support for technology transfer and thus the amount of activity at those institutions that would benefit from an alternate policy. In effect, standardization of university IP policies through national regulations may deprive university administrators of an effective lever for encouraging technology transfer on their campuses. This inference will be the focus of further research which will broaden the work documented in this dissertation by exploring the relationship between university IP policies, university-industry technology transfer, and university factors, including culture, across a wider range of universities.

Knowledge production has changed considerably in the past few decades. This transformation has notably affected universities both as unique institutions and citadels of knowledge. These changes are being brought by a number of factors, such as the globalization of the economy, the rise of technologies based on generic forms of knowledge, and the ability of universities to hold and exploit patents. In both scale and intensity, these alterations have led policy makers to reflect more on how scientific and technological innovation can and should be enhanced by policy decisions that would improve university-industry and government cooperation. This new fusion of three complementary societal sectors has been described by sociologists as the triple helix. As an analytical and normative concept, the triple helix is derived from the changing role of government in different societies in relation to academia and industry. Its basis is the recognition that the interaction among university-industry-government as relatively independent, yet inter-dependent institutional spheres is critical to improving the conditions for innovation in a knowledge-based society. The study reveals that commercial research funding significantly affects the perceptions of university-industry collaboration and academic knowledge capitalization. The analysis showed that academic scientists who received commercial research funding have relatively positive views about university-industry relations than those who do not receive such funds. However, one cannot conclude that commercial activities of academic scientists are harming the core functions of the university or that intellectual autonomy is being surrendered to industrial partners. Based on the findings of the study, and the contours of the triple helix model, it is argued that the growth of university-industry-government collaboration is not necessarily pre-determined in favour of either private corporations or the state, nor is it necessarily at the expense of universities. It is further contended that the growing notion that academic capitalism is harming the core functions of the university is perhaps a bit simplistic in that the issue is more complex and multifaceted than usually acknowledged. <p>In light of the above, the study asserts that the future viability of policies encouraging universities to be entrepreneurial may, if approached strategically, be catalysts for the science-based knowledge economy. For that to be realistic there is the need to understand the university as a differentiated social system rather than a unified whole. This will avoid the situation whereby all university activities are subordinated under a homogenous policy of one size fits all. In the context of triple helix relations, conceptualizing the university as a differentiated social system means a deep-seated and continually growing purposeful specialization such as the adoption of an economic development function in addition to teaching, research and community engagement.

The role of universities in supporting economic development has been explored in numerous studies emphasizing the mechanisms of technology transfer and knowl-edge spillover. However, in addition to these forms of intellectual capital, university scientists bring other resources into research collaboration and contribute to firm part-nerships in both direct and indirect ways. This thesis proposes the concept of resource spillover, which captures the various ways in which university scientists can benefit col-laborating firms. The study first analyzes firms, university scientists, and collaboration along with the concepts of ego, alter, and network ties in social capital theory; then it categorizes the resources possessed by university scientists into human capital, social capital, and positional capital, and tests the impact of each on the performance of a firm. The study finds that firms benefit from research collaboration in terms of both increased research capability and research output and improved public relations and research credibility. The study is carried out using a sample of new nanotechnology-based firms in the United States. As the U.S. government recognizes nanotechnology as providing scientific and technological opportunities with immense potential, this industry has be-come the recipient of significant federal R&D funding. In turn, because academic re-search has proven to be important to not only overall nanotechnology R&D but also in-dustrial R&D, it necessitates appropriate policy programs that support successful re-source spillover from academia and promote the development of industry.

In order to determine the effects of social capital in innovative contexts, Nahapiet and Ghoshal&rsquo / s (1998) three dimensions of social capital (structural, relational and cognitive) were investigated in a business incubator located in a university science park. This thesis tries to answer five questions for the incubator context: (1) What are the antecedents of the three dimensions of social capital? (2) What are the benefits of social capital for the tenant firms? (3) How are the dimensions of social capital related to the antecedents and benefits? (4) What are the effects of being located in a university on social capital development between the firms and the host university? and (5) What is the role of the incubator management/specialists on social capital creation? The research questions were investigated in two layers: (1) Social capital development among tenant firms, and (2) Social capital development between the tenant firms and the host university. The research was designed with a multi-method approach along four steps. In the first step, the selected incubator was observed for a day. In the second stage, a pilot interview was conducted with one of the tenant firms. Next the firms were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding their demographic characteristics. In the last stage, a theoretical sample of nine selected firms&rsquo / owners were interviewed. All the collected data were analyzed following the grounded theory approach (Strauss and Corbin, 1990) and seven propositions were developed to be investigated in further research.

The main purpose of this study is to explore individual and organizational level factors which influence the formation of knowledge and technology transfer links between universities and firms. To this end, three sets of data are collected and analyzed. The first one includes bibliometric data of nanotechnology publications, which are authored by scientists affiliated with Turkish universities. The second one is collected through a questionnaire survey from university-scientists dealing with nanoscale research. The third one is from firms doing nanotechnology R&amp / D through in-depth interviews with high level managers. The analysis of bibliometric data provides an insight to the main actors and characteristics of the nanoscale research in Turkey. This data is also used to identify the population of nano-scientists at Turkish universities. From May 2010 to May 2011, 181 questionnaires were collected from targeted nano-scientists / and 21 firms were interviewed. The collected data was used to investigate the impact of individual and organizational level factors on the proclivity of nanoscientists to engage in knowledge and technology transfer to industry by estimating binary probit models. The results suggest that nano-scientists with relations to industry are those who (i) have high number of patents/patent applications / (ii) do more applied research / (iii) have access to public funds (iv) are well connected to Turkish NST academia / (v) are working in universities which are not the most active ones in nanoscale research / but have nano-equipped laboratories / and support nano-scientists in their relations with industry / and finally (vi) are motivated by commercialization of their research outcomes. On the other hand, qualitative analysis of our data collected through in-depth interviews conducted with firms suggests that social capital and human capital of firms&rsquo / nanotechnology professionals play the key role in knowledge and technology transfer from universities. However, absorptive capacity and business culture are the most important firm level factors which influence university-industry relations. Finally, in the last section of this thesis we discuss some managerial and science, technology and innovation policy implications of the research.

The university-industry interaction increasingly becomes a major mechanism to change knowledge into innovation. This study evaluate whether this interaction contributes to development of companies and research groups in Federal University of Santa Maria context. Was considered the academic and business perspective. The academic side was carried out among research groups that maintains interaction with productive sector among their activities. On the business side were investigated companies that maintain collaboration with the university. The study used a qualitative and exploratory approach. We interviewed directors of four companies and four directors of leading research groups, representing three companies and three research groups. The evaluation of interactions used four dimensions: profile, process, structural factors and outcomes. These dimensions were used for both academic and business side. The results showed that the main contribution of business side was related to innovation in products and processes. Regarding competitiveness, the cooperation influence was less observable and indirect. Regarding sustainability, academic contribution was virtually nonexistent. From university side, interaction showed benefits in all parts of fundamental academic mission - teaching, research and extension - plus benefits in infrastructure. However, from the standpoint of innovation only one of research groups showed technological results. In general it was found that interaction of university researchers with productive sector contributes to development of university and business. / A interação entre o setor acadêmico e empresarial torna-se cada vez mais um dos principais mecanismos para transformar conhecimento em inovação. Este estudo buscou avaliar o processo de interação universidade-empresa na Universidade Federal de Santa Maria e sua contribuição para o desenvolvimento das empresas e grupos de pesquisa envolvidos. Buscouse avaliar esta contribuição por meio da perspectiva acadêmica e empresarial. Na perspectiva acadêmica, o estudo foi realizado junto a grupos de pesquisa que mantêm interação com o setor produtivo entre as suas atividades. No âmbito empresarial, foram investigadas empresas que mantêm colaboração com a universidade. O procedimento metodológico utilizado compreendeu uma pesquisa qualitativa, de caráter exploratório. Foram entrevistados quatro diretores de empresas e quatro líderes de grupos de pesquisa, representando três empresas e três grupos de pesquisa. A avaliação das interações utilizou quatro dimensões: perfil, processo, fatores estruturais e resultados. Estas dimensões foram utilizadas tanto no âmbito acadêmico quanto no empresarial. Os resultados evidenciaram que a principal contribuição na perspectiva empresarial foi a inovação em produtos e processos. Em relação à competitividade, a cooperação teve influência menos perceptível e indireta. Com relação à sustentabilidade, a contribuição acadêmica foi praticamente inexistente. Na perspectiva da universidade, a interação mostrou benefícios em todas as partes do tripé acadêmico fundamental - ensino, pesquisa e extensão - além de benefícios em infraestrutura. Porém, do ponto de vista da inovação, apenas um dos grupos de pesquisa evidenciou resultados de cunho tecnológico. De forma geral, verificou-se que a interação de pesquisadores da universidade com o setor produtivo contribui para o desenvolvimento da universidade e das empresas.

No contexto de universidade empreendedora, as incubadoras de empresas são um locus onde se acolhe empreendedores apoiando-os para que seus projetos tornem-se realidade através da constituição de pequenas empresas. Estar no ambiente de uma incubadora universitária de empresas significa estar próximo à universidade e tendo facilitado e estimulado o acesso e colaboração com a Academia. Se poderia questionar que efeitos o processo de incubação provoca na universidade que mantém uma incubadora de empresas e; por outro lado, que vantagens uma empresa nascente teria em estabelecer-se dentro de uma incubadora. Para subsidiar a análise dessas questões, o objetivo da presente pesquisa é analisar as interações universidade- empresa, em empresas incubadas e graduadas, que ocorrem no âmbito de uma incubadora universitária de empresas. Foi estudado o ambiente de incubação da Incubadora de Empresas de Base Tecnológica da UNISINOS, conhecida por UNITEC, através de coleta de dados via questionário submetido às empresas que estavam residentes na Incubadora no ano de 2009. Este estudo foi conduzido do ponto de vista da empresa que passa pelo processo de incubação, materializado na visão de seu empreendedor, sendo respondido por 15 empreendedores que representam 15 das empresas incubadas e graduadas residentes. Os resultados obtidos permitiram identificar: as parcerias, a receita mensal regular das empresas incubadas, o baixo nível de endividamento, e a troca de informações técnicas com outras empresas, como efeitos do processo de incubação nas empresas. Também pemitiram identificar as palestras em sala de aula, as visitas de alunos nas empresas e a consultoria prestada por alunos, como principais efeitos na Universidade. Além disso, se pode identificar que as percepções dos executivos das empresas graduadas e incubadas, divergem na maioria das questões. / Considering the entrepreneurship university context, the business incubators are a kind of locus that holds entrepreneurs, helping them to make their projects come true via the establishment of small companies. Being inside university business incubator means to have easy access and stimulated collaboration with the University. It could be asked which effects the incubation process brings to a university that holds a business incubator and, on the other hand, which advantages could be reached by a startup company settled inside an incubator. In order to support the analysis of these kinds of questions, the objective of this research is to analyze the interactions university-industry that occurs in a university business incubator. This study considers the incubation environment at UNISINOS University (located in the southern Brazil), called UNITEC, throw data collected using a questionnaire that was submitted to companies that were resident at UNITEC incubation environment at the year 2009. This whole study considers the point of view of 15 companies that were passed through incubation process, including incubated companies and also graduated ones. From the obtained results, it´s possible to indentify: the partnerships among resident companies, the recurring monthly income of incubated companies, the low level of indebtedness of all companies and, the technical information exchange among the companies, as effects from the incubation process in the resident companies. It´s also to indentify that the lectures by entrepreneurs at university classes, the students visits at companies and, consultancy services by students, as the main effects of the incubation process at the University. Besides that, it´s possible to realize that entrepreneurs from the incubated and graduated companies diverge in most questions.

A interação universidade-empresa (IUE) é uma das ferramentas fundamentais para estimular o desenvolvimento social e econômico de um país. De um lado, a possibilidade de interação depende, em primeira instância, da oferta de conhecimento científico e tecnológico existente no contexto da relação. De outro lado, para haver interação de fato, não basta existir uma malha de instituições de ciência e tecnologia (C&T), mas é fundamental que haja, acima de tudo, a necessidade de interação por parte das empresas. É justamente o tamanho das demandas das empresas por conhecimento e tecnologia que irá desenhar os contornos da interação universidade-empresa. Isso posto, este estudo tem como objetivo analisar os elementos estruturais, exógenos e endógenos às firmas, que determinam o nível de interação entre universidades e empresas. Dependendo do setor, do tamanho da firma, dos investimentos em P&D e das capacidades de inovação, isto é, dos determinantes estruturais, espera-se identificar os diferentes níveis de interação entre universidades e empresas. Para alcançar esse objetivo, utilizou dados secundários coletados em uma pesquisa survey, coordenada pelo NITEC (UFRGS), que abrangeu 1.331 empresas dos mais diversos setores industriais, as quais foram classificadas de acordo com o nível de interação: baixo nível de interação e alto nível de interação. Os principais resultados obtidos indicam que, primeiramente, a intensidade tecnológica setorial não é determinante do nível de interação das empresas com as universidades. Em compensação, os determinantes endógenos, como o tamanho da firma, os investimentos em P&D e as capacidades de inovação confirmaram-se como variáveis previsoras significantes do nível de interação. Entre os elementos endógenos, as capacidades de inovação se destacam como variáveis com poder explicativo superior aos outros determinantes que já são amplamente investigados na literatura. Já em relação ao desempenho da firma, somente o registro de patentes e o desempenho econômico encontramse determinados pelo nível de interação. Por fim, essas descobertas em relação aos determinantes do nível de interação e do desempenho da firma comprovam o pressuposto teórico defendido nesse trabalho: o nível tecnológico das empresas é determinante do nível de interação das firmas com as universidades; contudo, são as variáveis internas às firmas, e não as externas, que ditam esse nível. / The university-industry interaction is one of the key tools to stimulate social and economic development of a country. On one side, the possibility of interaction depends, in the first instance, on the offer of scientific and technological knowledge existing in the context of the relationship. On the other hand, to really have interaction, is not enough to just exist a network of science and technology institutions, but it is fundamental to have, above all, the need for interaction by firms. It is precisely the size of the demands of companies by knowledge and technology that will draw the contours of university-industry interaction. That said, this study aims to identify and analyze the structural elements, exogenous and endogenous to firms, that determine the level of interaction between universities and firms. Depending on the sector, firm size, investment in R&D and innovation capabilities, that is, structural determinants, it is expected to identify the different levels of interaction between universities and firms. To achieve this goal, it was used secondary data collected in a survey research coordinated by NITEC (UFRGS), which covered 1,331 companies from various industrial sectors, which were classified according to the level of interaction: low level of interaction and high level of interaction. The main results indicate that, first, the sectoral technological intensity is not determinant of the level of interaction with universities. On the other hand, the endogenous determinants, such as firm size, investment in R&D and innovation capabilities were confirmed as significant predictor variables of the level of interaction. Among the endogenous elements, innovative capabilities stand out as variables with greater explanatory power than other determinants that already are widely investigated in literature. In relation to the firm's performance, only the registration of patents and economic performance are determined by the level of interaction. Finally, these findings about the determinants of the level of interaction and firm performance confirm the theoretical assumption defended in this work: the technological level of the companies is determining of the level of interaction of firms with universities. However, the internal variables of the firms, and not external, are which dictate this level.