In addition to research and education, today's role of acadamia in the United States also includes the creation of wealth for society. Universities are active in fostering innovation and transferring technology. However, it should be noted that some universities act more as entrepreneurs than others and are more successful in selling licenses and spinning off companies.
Based on the concept of entrepreneurial orientation, Jan Boehm elaborates on the relationship between dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation - such as autonomy, innovativeness, proactiveness, competitiveness, risk-taking, and interdisciplinarity - and technology transfer performance of U.S. universities. Using variance-based multivariate analysis and a survey of principal investigators, the author concludes that entrepreneurial orientation within research organizations has a positive impact on technology transfer.
Autorentext
Dr. Jan Boehm promovierte bei Prof. Dr. Malte Brettel am Lehrstuhl Wirtschaftswissenschaften für Ingenieure und Naturwissenschaftler der RWTH Aachen. Er ist als Director Financial Institutions Group bei der Deutsche Bank AG in Frankfurt tätig.
Zusammenfassung
Entrepreneurial firms and new venture creation are important drivers for economic growth. Hence, emphasis is put on the question how to adequately stimulate and s- port new business creation. The corresponding discussion has not excluded academic organisations such as universities - quite the contrary. In Germany, this discussion was intensified by changes in the Employee Invention Act (Arbeitnehmererfinder- setz), which now obliges researchers to report an invention to the sponsoring univ- sity, which in return has to decide how the invention it will be exploited. Sub- quently, inventions and patents have emerged as a attractive economic resource for universities. This explains why university administrators have great interest in und- standing how the creative and entrepreneurial orientation of researchers or entire - search teams can be controlled, steered, and enhanced. The discussion we are having in Germany today began in the US more than 20 years ago. With the Bayh-Dole-Act of 1980, a shift in the allocation of property took place similar to the introduction of the Employee Invention Act in Germany today. In ad- tion, the notion of entrepreneurial activities in the context of research organisations has a long-lasting tradition in the US, and the current German system could learn a lot from understanding these developments. This has been the motive for Jan Boehm to look deeper into the field of entrepren- rial orientation in academia, in particular in the US.
Inhalt
Context and Definitions.- Theoretical Framework and Literature Review.- Conceptual Model and Hypotheses.- Methodology.- Data Collection and Analysis.- Results and Discussion.- Conclusion.