Full Citation
Title: The Growing Importance of Universities for Patenting and Innovation∗
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2021
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3911375
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PMCID:
PMID:
Abstract: We document a growing link between university research and development ex- penditures and patenting activity in the surrounding metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) since 1980. The gap in patents per capita between MSAs with and without a research university has doubled, while the elasticity of patents per capita with re- spect to university R&D has tripled. We establish that this trend reflects growing knowledge spillovers from university R&D by showing that it survives controlling for MSA and university characteristics; that it holds by research/patent field; and that it is stronger in areas where universities do more basic R&D. We show that a portion of this change can be linked to the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act, which was designed in part to improve knowledge flows between universities and firms. The growing impor- tance of teams for leading scientific research and reduction in corporate basic research likely also play a role.
User Submitted?: Yes
Authors: Schoellman, Todd; Smirnyagin, Vladimir
Publisher: SSRN
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Education, Other
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