Cooperative Innovation Science And Technology Policy

Research cooperation in a nation is a fundamental key to national competitiveness in technology that supports growth in a national economy. To fully understand why some nations are more successful in innovation than others, one must examine the structure and process of knowledge creation and use — the Science & Technology policy of a nation.National innovation requires progress both in Science & Technology, and also in economy. Research cooperation for innovation is necessary, since science, technology, and production are performed in different sectors of a nation. Universities conduct research science, and science discovers nature. Governments support most of the research in universities, and therefore are the principal sponsors of science. Industry develops most technology and commercializes technology into economically useful products/services. The structure and process of knowledge in a nation thus requires (1) creation of knowledge in science, (2) translation of science into technology, and (3) design of technology into commercialization of utility. At a national level, innovation is thus a complicated concept — proposing a need to identify the proper ways that government-university-industry can cooperate to advance knowledge and economically benefit from innovation. Special programs in Science & Technology policy that have proven beneficial in fostering research cooperation for national competitiveness will be covered in this book.Cooperative Innovation: Science & Technology Policy helps readers understand a practical science & technology policy for a nation. Its contents are particularly useful for government administrators of research, industrial research directors, university research directors, and students of science & technology policy.

"Research cooperation in a nation is a fundamental key to national competitiveness in technology that supports growth in a national economy. To fully understand why some nations are more successful in innovation than others, one must examine the structure and process of knowledge creation and use -- the Science & Technology policy of a nation. National innovation requires progress both in Science & Technology, and also in economy. Research cooperation for innovation is necessary, since science, technology, and production are performed in different sectors of a nation. Universities conduct research science, and science discovers nature. Governments support most of the research in universities, and therefore are the principal sponsors of science. Industry develops most technology and commercializes technology into economically useful products/services. The structure and process of knowledge in a nation thus requires (1) creation of knowledge in science, (2) translation of science into technology, and (3) design of technology into commercialization of utility. At a national level, innovation is thus a complicated concept -- proposing a need to identify the proper ways that government-university-industry can cooperate to advance knowledge and economically benefit from innovation. Special programs in Science & Technology policy that have proven beneficial in fostering research cooperation for national competitiveness will be covered in this book. Cooperative Innovation: Science & Technology Policy helps readers understand a practical science & technology policy for a nation. Its contents are particularly useful for government administrators of research, industrial research directors, university research directors, and students of science & technology policy"--

This intuitive Advanced Introduction provides an in-depth review of current U.S. technology policy, tracing the legislative history of policies such as the Economic Recovery Tax Act, the Small Business Innovation Development Act and the National Cooperative Research Act. The critical elements of the ecosystem in which technology policy exists are also discussed, with a particular focus on U.S. patent policy and U.S. investments in infrastructure technology.

At a time when scientific and technical innovation now requires a multitude of heterogeneous inputs and expertise from the public and private sectors alike, cooperative research centers (CRCs) have emerged as the predominant vehicle for cross-sector collaboration. In the U.S. alone, there are thousands of CRCs on university campuses, and agencies like the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, and more recently the Department of Energy fund CRCs to address some of the nation’s most formidable challenges with science and technology, including cancer and other diseases, terrorism surveillance and the detection of weapons of mass destruction, and new energy technologies and smart energy grid development. Industry oftentimes participates in CRCs for access to knowledge, capacity development, and to mitigate risk. This volume includes research investigating CRCs from North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia to explore the dynamics of CRCs, including but not limited to resource allocation, structure, level of sponsorship, organization and membership, management and operations, objectives and goals, and in doing so identifies both differences and similarities across institutional and national contexts. The volume sheds light on the role of CRCs in promoting innovation, S&T policy, and economic development, and on the practical aspects of successful CRC management. Moreover, the works included in the volume consider the implications for the various stakeholder groups (firms, universities, researchers, students, policymakers) invested in CRCs.

At a time when scientific and technical innovation now requires a multitude of heterogeneous inputs and expertise from the public and private sectors alike, cooperative research centers (CRCs) have emerged as the predominant vehicle for cross-sector collaboration. In the U.S. alone, there are thousands of CRCs on university campuses, and agencies like the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, and more recently the Department of Energy fund CRCs to address some of the nation’s most formidable challenges with science and technology, including cancer and other diseases, terrorism surveillance and the detection of weapons of mass destruction, and new energy technologies and smart energy grid development. Industry oftentimes participates in CRCs for access to knowledge, capacity development, and to mitigate risk. This volume includes research investigating CRCs from North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia to explore the dynamics of CRCs, including but not limited to resource allocation, structure, level of sponsorship, organization and membership, management and operations, objectives and goals, and in doing so identifies both differences and similarities across institutional and national contexts. The volume sheds light on the role of CRCs in promoting innovation, S&T policy, and economic development, and on the practical aspects of successful CRC management. Moreover, the works included in the volume consider the implications for the various stakeholder groups (firms, universities, researchers, students, policymakers) invested in CRCs.

Cooperation in Research and Development provides an empirical and theoretical analysis of a distinct form of inter-firm collaboration in Research & Development (R&D): research joint ventures (RJVs). Of all types of cooperation, RJVs have received the most attention in both formal industrial organization and science and technology policy literature. The emerging theoretical economic literature on incentives of firms to join RJVs has not been followed by much empirical work. Cooperation in Research and Development attempts to fill the void caused by this lack of consistent data on the rate of RJV formation, RJV characteristics, and RJV member characteristics. Significant attention is paid to the role of RJVs in facilitating `virtual' firm diversification as necessary to pursue particular technological objectives. An effort is also made to blend the reported theoretical and empirical analyses with conceptual models of the process of technological innovation and models of industrial evolution in order to provide answers beyond the reach of the received economic theory. Cooperation in Research and Development should be of interest to academic economists, policy makers, and business representatives. The microeconomic issues the book deals with overlap significantly with the interests of decision makers both in government and business.

Research and development (R and D) leads to innovation, and innovation leads to technological change. Technological change, in turn, is the primary driver of economic growth. Public/private partnerships -- cooperative relationships among industry, government, and/or universities -- leverage the efficiency of R and D and are thus a critical aspect of a nation’s innovation system. This text is intended for upper-level undergraduate and MBA courses such as Economics and Technology, Economics of Innovation, and Economics of Science and Technology, among others. The first chapter introduces the concept of public/private research partnerships along with other concepts fundamental to an understanding of innovation and technology policy. The framework chapters (2-5) set forth an argument for the public’s role – government’s role – in innovation in general and in public/private partnership in particular. The remaining chapters (6-14) describe a number of public/private partnerships and, to the extent possible, evaluate their social impact.

Scholars in the science and technology field have not collectively questioned, much less proposed, an agenda for policy makers. Now is an appropriate time for such an undertaking. First, there is a growing belief that the U.S. national research and development system, like that of many industrial nations, is changing due to global competitive pressures and advancements in information technology and electronic commerce. Second, industry's R&D relationship with the academic research community is changing not only because of the global competition but also because of alterations in the level of government support of fundamental research. As a result, policy makers will need to rethink their approaches to science and technology issues. This volume is a collection of essays by scholars about innovative policy in the knowledge-based economy. By knowledge-based economy we mean one for which economic growth is based on the creation, distribution, and use of technology. As such, innovation policy in such an economy must enhance the creation, distribution, and use of knowledge that leads to the creation, distribution, and use of technology. This volume considers elements of an innovation policy: innovation policy and academic research, innovation policy in electronic commerce, and innovation policy and globalization issues.