Generating technological knowledge in Spanish universities: An exploration of patent data
Manuel Acosta
Departamento de Economía General, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad de Cádiz, Spain
Daniel Coronado Guerrero
Departamento de Economía General, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad de Cádiz, Spain
Rosario Marín Muñoz
Departamento de Economía General, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad de Cádiz, Spain
PP: 357 - 372
Abstract
In this study we provide a set of elements that allow an evaluation of one of the facets of the contribution of universities to their new mission directed towards technological development and, in consequence, to economic development.
In their modern conception as elements of a system of innovation, universities fulfil three essential functions: first, they lead the general process of scientific research that has a long term effect on the technological frontiers of industry; second, they generate a type of knowledge that is directly applicable to industrial production processes; third, they provide the principal inputs of the process of industrial innovation: the human resources that are incorporated in industry, or the researchers working in those institutions that collaborate with the private industrial sector.
Our objective in this article is to explore in detail the second of these functions; in other words, we deal with the magnitude, technological characteristics, regional peculiarities and the explanatory causes of the direct contribution of universities to the development of industrial technology.
The results show that the contribution of the university to the development of industrial technology is determined not only by the capabilities of the universities themselves, but also by the presence of a powerful technological environment that constitutes a source of demand for technology.
Keywords
generation of technological knowledge; patents; universities; innovation systems; applied knowledge; industrial development; demand for technology
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