Access to Research Inputs: Open Science Versus the Entrepreneurial University

ZEW Discussion Paper No. 14-018 // 2014
ZEW Discussion Paper No. 14-018 // 2014

Access to Research Inputs: Open Science Versus the Entrepreneurial University

Recent decades have seen a shift in academic research   towards the 'entrepreneurial university' model. Researchers   are encouraged to actively participate in innovation through   channels such as academic patenting, joint work with   industry, or academic entrepreneurship. Besides obvious   benefits of technology transfer and increased funding at   research institutions through industry collaborations,   scholars have expressed concerns that the shift towards   entrepreneurial universities may entail negative   implications for the rate and direction of academic   research. Examples include trade-offs between publishing and   patenting, academic entrepreneurship and the ‘brain drain’   in academia, the dissemination of research results, and the   withholding of information, data and materials on which   research is based. 

In this paper, we focus on how extramural and in   particular industry funding of academic research affect   academics’ sharing behavior. Our research builds on a broad   individual-level dataset of German academics. In the   regressions we disentangle total extramural funding received   from funding that comes specifically from industry sponsors   and find that, controlling for personal characteristics,   research characteristics, institutional affiliations, and   scientific fields, scientists who receive external funding   from any source are more likely to be denied access to   others’ research results or materials. Those who receive   industry funding are more likely to deny others’ requests   for access. These results reflect the changes in incentives   of researchers to disclose as funding moves towards the   private sector. Our results have implications for both   science institutions and funding bodies.

Czarnitzki, Dirk, Christoph Grimpe and Maikel Pellens (2014), Access to Research Inputs: Open Science Versus the Entrepreneurial University, ZEW Discussion Paper No. 14-018, Mannheim, published in: Journal of Technology Transfer.

Authors Dirk Czarnitzki // Christoph Grimpe // Maikel Pellens