TRACK: Transferring Academic Knowledge

Over the past thirty years, Knowledge Transfer Activities (KTA) have come to be considered as a natural stage in the evolution of the modern university, in addition to the more traditional mandates of education and research. KTA by academics are accomplished in different forms. Some of them, more discovery-driven, are characterized by the enforcement of intellectual property right, such as patenting, licensing and creation of new business based on patent. Some others, such as consulting and collaboration with industry, are more construction driven and are undertaken outside the Intellectual Property system (IP-system). The vast majority of studies on KTA examine entrepreneurial activities generated as a result of a formal disclosure process that occurs within the IP-system. Thus, very little is still known on the breadth and depth of KTA, on the impact that these activities have on academics' research productivity, as well as on the effectiveness of university support mechanisms in fostering them. In order to fill part of this void, aim of TRACK is to: a) gather new primary and secondary data on KTA undertaken by a representative sample of the academics in the U.K.; b) complement this information with empirical evidences on their research productivity and highlight the trade-offs (if any) between KTA and research; c) identify the support mechanisms put in place by universities as well as the TTOs’ business models, spotting the best practices in the support of KTA. Adopting a multilevel approach and relying on advanced econometric technique, TRACK will characterize the depth and breadth of KTA undertaken by academics in U.K, assessing the impact that KTA have on individuals’ research productivity and exploring the impact that different institutional characteristics have on KTA undertaken by academics. Results will have implications for efforts to develop and test theories of academic entrepreneurship, as well as efforts to develop science-policies.