ENCOURAGING ENTREPRENEURSHIP: UNIVERSITY INVENTION OWNERSHIP REGIMES AND EFFECTIVE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: TERMINATED
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1004912
• Project No.: CA-D-HCE-2051-H
• Project Start Date: Oct 16, 2014
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2019

Project Director
Kenney, M.

Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS
410 MRAK HALL
DAVIS,CA 95616-8671

Performing Department
Human Ecology

Non Technical Summary
Nearly all previous research on spinoffs has focused on private universities and, in particular, Stanford and MIT. This is remarkable because, in most states, the most research-intensive universities are the public ones and, often, these are LGUs. This research project will focus specifically on spinoffs and entrepreneurship in LGUs.Governments, at all levels, are interested in the ways in which university research results can be translated into positive social and economic impacts. Entrepreneurship is one important pathway for commercializing research results. Our methodology produces comprehensive and detailed information for every technology-based firm that spinoffs from the focal universities. Because university spinoffs are very likely to remain close to universities, they should have a far greater positive impact on the local community than technology licensed to large non-local firms. While this is now well understood, remarkably little is known about the origins of the new spinoff's founders. It is commonly held that professors are the source of university spinoffs, but our preliminary research suggests a far larger role for students that commonly imagined. If this is the case, then concentrating all policy meaures on professors may be inefficient. After preparation and analysis, our database will enable a more scientifically informed analysis of such generalizations based upon anecdotes, observations, and small N surveys.

Animal Health Component

0%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

30%

Applied

70%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
608	6050	3110	50%
803	6050	3110	50%

Knowledge Area
803 - Sociological and Technological Change Affecting Individuals, Families, and Communities; 608 - Community Resource Planning and Development;

Subject Of Investigation
6050 - Communities, areas, and regions;

Field Of Science
3110 - Art and architecture;

Keywords

entrepreneurship

land grant universities

spinoffs

local economic development

Goals / Objectives
Technology transfer is critical for ensuring that the benefits of public-funded research accrue to society. Entrepreneurship is one vital channel of such technology transfer. Remarkably, despite the enormous attention to this process in the literature, very little research has been done upon the number and types of firms based on university research that have spun-off of public and particularly land grant universities. This is not surprising because until recently entrepreneurship was discouraged in most public universities for political and ideological reasons. This perspective has changed as scholars and policy makers have recognized that the benefits of knowledge spunoff from universities through entrepreneurship are more likely to be practiced and remain local than technology licensed to large multinational firms. Despite this recognition, we are the only research team in the nation building a database that has firm-level data on these startups. Using the data collected, we will be able to undertake rigorous quantitative analysis of the origin and fate of these spinoffs and provide some measure of the social benefit of university technology-based entrepreneurship.The final objective of the project is to raise funds for extending and deepening the research. With W. Richard Goe, of Kansas State University, we raised $95,000 from the Kauffman Foundation to extend our research to all of the major Kansas and Missouri universities. I anticipate that we may be able to secure further funding from other regional organizations to understand the spinoffs from their universities.

Project Methods
Using a methodology that we have developed for identifying startup, both with licensed and unlicensed technology, we develop a database of all university spinoffs. The data includes the name, address, website, description, industry, and founding date of the firm. We identify all of the founders, their previous employer, and affiliation with the university. We can usually identify the department with which a founder was affiliated, their title at the university, and any co-founders. We identify the fate of the firm (private, bankrupt, acquired IPO) and whether and when it received venture capital. This data has already been collected for the LGUs -- UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Wisconsin, Illinois, University of Missouri, and Kansas State University and non-LGUs, Michigan, UC Santa Barbara, and Washington University.When this data is coded and it will be possible to identify particularly entrepreneurial departments and individuals and whether they licensed technology from the university or commercialized it outside of TLO channels. This population is more complete than those used by previous studies that are based solely on TLO-provided information, which is limited to licensed firms. In particular, this undercounts spinoffs from fields such as computer science, but also likely agriculturally-related departments that often produce new instruments that are not patented or licensed.

Progress 10/16/14 to 09/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience: M. Kenney. Presenter. "Regional Development from Innovation in Food, Culture, and Agriculture." University of Agder, Norway, Berkeley, CA (April 10, 2019). Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has led to the training of one undergraduate student on database creation and curation during this period How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The project has ended.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Our database of LGU spinoffs includes over 2,000 firms that we are beginning to analyze.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Biagioli, M., Kenney, M., Martin, B., Walsh, J. P. 2019. Academic Misconduct, Misrepresentation and Gaming: A Reassessment. Research Policy 48, (2): 401-413. Breznitz, S. and Kenney, M. 2018. Slouching Toward the Downton Abbey University System. Issues in Science and Technology. 34(3): 74-82. Liu, Q., D. Patton, M. Kenney. 2018. Do University Mergers Create Academic Synergy? Evidence from China and the Nordic Countries. Research Policy 47 (1): 98-107.

Progress 10/01/17 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:I made presentations on universities and entrepreneurship in the following venues: M. Kenney. Invited Speaker. "University-Industry Relations in the UC System." Seminar for the University of Agder (Norway) Executive Training (April 6-7, 2018). . Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has led to the training of three undergraduate students on database creation and curation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?I was quoted in the February 2018 issue of Technology Transfer Tactics on streamlining the operation of tech transfer offices. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Undertake analysis of the database.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Our database of LGU spinoffs has been expanded and now includes over 2,000 firms

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: iagioli, M., Kenney, M., Martin, B., Walsh, J. P. 2019. Academic Misconduct, Misrepresentation and Gaming: A Reassessment. Research Policy Forthcoming Breznitz, S. and Kenney, M. 2018. Slouching Toward the Downton Abbey University System. Issues in Science and Technology. 34(3): 74-82.

Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:I made presentations on universities and entrepreneurship in the following venues: M. Kenney. Invited Speaker. "University-Industry Relations - Lessons from the UC System." University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China (September 14, 2017). M. Kenney. Speaker. "Public Universities and Regional Development." UCSD University Extension, San Diego, CA (August 25, 2017). M. Kenney. Keynote Speaker. East Meets West: University-Industry Relations Conference, Bologna University, Bologna, Italy (June 5-6, 2017) M. Kenney. Invited Speaker. "Universities and regional development." University of Padua, Padua, Italy (June 8, 2017). M. Kenney. Speaker. "Universities and regional development." Instituto di Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy. (May 3, 2017). M. Kenney. Speaker. "Universities and regional development." Department of Economics, University of Florence, Florence, Italy (May 8, 2017). M. Kenney. Panel Member. Panel: Investing in Higher Education: Research Universities, Innovation and Economic Impact, The Future of Higher Education: Creating Opportunity, Assessing Value Conference, UC Berkeley (April 7, 2017). In addition, I was quoted regarding universities and their innovative impact in the following Sacramento area publication. Comstock Magazine December 2017. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Our work has been quoted by the popular press. The Journal of Technology Transfer is widely read by technology transfer professionals and academics interested in the topic. These two communities have been exposed through our publications. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Undertake analysis of the database.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The database of university spinoffs from land grant and non-land grant universities now contains over 1,800 firms and is now one of the largest ever assembled. We will begin analysis in calendar year 2018

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Kenney, M. and D. Patton. 2017. Sub-National Technology Policy and Commerce: Evaluating the Impacts of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Journal of Technology Transfer. 1-22.

Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:I co-organized an NSF funded event entitled Workshop on Exploring the Complexity of the Contribution of Research Universities to Society." University of California, Davis (June 6-7, 2016). I also am a co-organizer of a conference at UC Berkeley entitled "The Future of Higher Education." Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We have cleaned a database of all licensed technology startups from the University of California research that includes the entrepreneurs, the grant, whether they received venture capital or an SBIR, and the founders. With this we are analyzing the different pathways to firm survival and successful exit.

Publications

Progress 10/16/14 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience:I made the following presentations to academic and public audiences on the research: M. Kenney. Keynote Speaker. The Diverse Roles of Universities in Regional Innovation Ecosystems: Case Studies from University of California Campuses. Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan (October 2, 2014). M. Kenney. Invited Speaker. 2014. The Diverse Roles of Universities in Regional Innovation Ecosystems: Case Studies from University of California Campuses. Webinar for North Central Regional Center for Rural Development (NCRCRD), Michigan State University. October 28, 2014 M. Kenney. Panelist. "Science Policy and the Promotion of Innovation" Conference on New Approaches for the Promotion of Innovation, Science and Technology: Bridging Japan and San Diego, UC San Diego, May 19, 2015. M. Kenney. "Local Military research and innovation: the role of the University of California." Conference on Defense and Innovation. University of Bordeaux, May 28-29, 2015. M. Kenney. "Public Universities and Regional Development." University of California Sacramento Center. July 16, 2015. M. Kenney. Commercializing Stem Cell Science in the U.S. - Where Is It and Where Are We? Innovation Ecosystems and Competence Building Observations from Human Spare Parts and Venture Finance Ecosystems, Helsinki, Finland. September 15, 2015. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?During the period, the University of California Office of the President provided me with $50,000 to continue my collection of UC spinoffs. Additionally, I was awarded $87,000 by NSF Science of Science Policy to conduct an agenda-setting workshop at UC Davis. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results were disseminated through publications, presentations, and a webinar What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue to collect data on UC spinoffs and begin publishing in scientific journals.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? I completed a census of all UC startups for each campus.

Publications

• Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: M. Kenney. 2015. University-based entrepreneurship. In D. Audretsch, C. Hayter, and A. Link (Eds.) Concise Guide to Entrepreneurship, Technology and Innovation. Elgar Concise Guides pp. 223-228.
• Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Kenney, M. and D. Patton. 2015. In University Technology Transfer One Size Does Not Fit Them All: Comparing the Biological Sciences and Information Technology. S. Breznitz and H. Etzkowitz (Eds.) University-Industry Technology Transfer.
• Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Kenney, M. 2015. Commercialization or Engagement: Which Is of More Significance for Regional Economies? In Audretsch, D., Link, A, and Walshok, M. (Eds). Oxford Handbook of Local Competitiveness (Oxford: Oxford University Press).