Stimulating academic patenting in a university ecosystem: an agent-based simulation approach

Intellectual property law protection for energy-efficient innovation in Saudi Arabia

Laws and policies are important instruments to protect and promote innovation. Intellectual property laws like copyright, patent, and confidential commercial information law facilitate can increase business outputs, economic growth, and green production standards. The objective of the article is to analyze copyright, patent, and confidential commercial information laws in Saudi Arabia to see the availability of these laws in encouraging and protecting energy-efficient innovation while contributing to achieving sustainable development. Content analysis, doctrinal research method, and comparative legal analysis were used to achieve the research objective. The research findings demonstrate that the three selected legislation could be extended to protect energy-efficient innovation in Saudi Arabia though there is a need to amend some of the provisions of the existing laws. However, creating public awareness of the availability of laws and proper implementation of the laws are necessary to protect energy-efficient innovation. The article proposes recommendations to the policymakers about the need for further improvement of the law and its enforcement. The findings of this research could fill the gap in the literature on the assessment of intellectual property law to protect energy-efficient innovation in Saudi Arabia.

Biopharmaceutical innovation ecosystems: a stakeholder model and the case of Lombardy

The purpose of this paper is to examine biopharma innovation ecosystems (IEs) through the lenses of a stakeholder model. In doing so, this work aims to answer the following research question: which stakeholders are required in an IE within biopharma industry and what are their main roles in the IE value creation. The research strategy was designed according to the grounded theory methodology. By applying this methodology, data were collected through verbatim interviews with several stakeholders. Both data collection and data analysis phases were carried out concurrently up to saturation where all data were identified and their consistency across the many forms was reached. The thesis of the paper intends to prove that biopharma IEs consist of a multilevel and longitudinal set of key stakeholders. Furthermore, by investigating the Lombardy case study, it explains the role of each stakeholder with regards to the comparative advantages required in the engagement with the IE. In addition, arising from a holistic view of the biopharma IEs, this research traces the biopharma IE dynamics through the analysis of the IE's driving forces. This paper represents one of the first heuristic attempts to analyze in-depth biopharma IE from a holistic perspective. The paper findings can be considered to be an impactful extension to biopharma IEs world-wide. This broader scope is well supported by expert interviews as a central part of the methodology and by the investigated scientific literature.

Engines need transmission belts: the importance of people in technology transfer offices

Over the last 20 years, universities and Public Research Organizations have increased their efforts to transfer their research results towards industrial applications in order to generate economic and social impact. Among many different actions, new technology transfer offices (TTOs) have been set up and existing ones strengthened. The present paper intends to evaluate the effects of a specific policy action launched by the Italian Patent and Trademark Office (UIBM) within the Italian Ministry of Economic Development (MISE), aimed at increasing the number of employees in TTOs to foster technology transfer in general and the valorization of intellectual property rights more specifically. Our results suggest that the impact of the UIBM policy action has been positive and that in some specific situations the impact was stronger. Our results therefore contribute to the technology transfer literature and can have implications for both academic research and decisions regarding investments in human resources in university TTOs.

Does the hα-index reinforce the Matthew effect in science? The introduction of agent-based simulations into scientometrics

Recently, Hirsch (2019a) proposed a new variant of the h-index called the hα-index. The hα-index was criticized by Leydesdorff, Bornmann, and Opthof (2019) . One of their most important points is that the index reinforces the Matthew effect in science. The Matthew effect was defined by Merton (1968) as follows: “the Matthew effect consists in the accruing of greater increments of recognition for particular scientific contributions to scientists of considerable repute and the withholding of such recognition from scientists who have not yet made their mark” (p. 58). We follow up on the point about the Matthew effect in the current study by using a recently developed Stata command (h_index) and R package (hindex), which can be used to simulate h-index and hα-index applications in research evaluation. The user can investigate under which conditions hα reinforces the Matthew effect. The results of our study confirm what Leydesdorff et al. (2019) expected: The hα-index reinforces the Matthew effect. This effect can be intensified if strategic behavior of the publishing scientists and cumulative advantage effects are additionally considered in the simulation.

Academia a new knowledge supplier to the industry! Uncovering barriers in the process

Purpose

In the era of Industry 4.0, knowledge component plays a vital role in manufacturing. For tacking the new complexities of the business, a concept of knowledge supply chain (KSC) is being proposed, which takes into account of knowledge component. Higher education institutes (HEIs) which are primary creator of knowledge are important foundations of such supply chain and act as the “knowledge supplier.” The purpose of this paper is to focus on why the HEIs are failed to become knowledge supplier in developing country like India.

Design/methodology/approach

This research paper adopts a resource-based theory to explore the concept and identify barriers which obstructs the progress of HEIs to become prominent knowledge supplier to industry. To tackle the research problem, an integrated hybrid approach of interpretive structural modeling–analytic hierarchy process is used. Expert elicitation was engaged to find out the prominence of each barrier and the interrelations among them.

Findings

Based on literature review, eight critical barriers were recognized. The findings put forward a four layer structural model. Based on this model, various remedial actions are also suggested to eliminate the barriers or lessen their negative effects on KSC.

Practical implications

This study finds its practical implication in higher education reforms as the identified barriers could enhance the decision-making quality regarding academia–industry interaction.

Social implications

Using the results of the study, HEIs could improve their social sustainability as they have different stakeholders covering wider sections of society and one being industry.

Originality/value

Most of the existing studies talk about short-term interactions like technology transfer. This study takes into account the barriers which are acting as roadblocks in long-term knowledge supplying role of HEIs.

Models, Processes, and Roles of Universities in Technology Transfer Management: A Systematic Review

Universities play pivotal roles when research findings are to be adopted commercially. Although these roles vary from one country to another, effective patenting and licensing procedures, as well as eventual commercialisation of scholarly inventions, reflect hard work on the part of the University mediating between the researcher and the industry through technology transfer offices (TTOs) in order to ensure that knowledge-developers take motivational and monetary credit for their findings. This paper details some existing models, processes, and roles taken up in some countries where sharing of intellectual property exists, and links it up with aspects of university–industry technology transfer, such as policies surrounding patenting, government investment and marketing, and the process of academic entrepreneurship, among others. 22 articles were found via a systematic review of literature and analysed with respect to four identified areas of focus: internal strategy, investment and market, academic entrepreneurship and policy. Based on models, processes, and roles in reviewed studies, our results indicate that new models for technology transfer mainly stem from the fact that there is no universally accepted model in the literature. Furthermore, management of technology transfer is mostly the responsibility of TTOs in most countries. While university TTOs act as intermediaries to protect the interest of the author/inventor, issues such as poor relationships between universities and industry, as well as funding, remain major challenges in many emerging economies. In contrast, researchers in western economies are mainly challenged by financial motivation and recognition within the academic domains.

Entrepreneurial ecosystems: economic, technological, and societal impacts

Despite the overwhelming use of the metaphor ‘ecosystem’ in academia, industry, policy, and management, exact definitions of what ‘ecosystems’ really comprise are scarce and often inconsistent. Existing vague descriptions in the literature do not consider the boundaries of respective agglomerations, hence, they impede the evaluation of performance and outcome measures of respective ecosystems. This special issue is a first attempt to trace the ‘ecosystem’ discussion back to its roots—the ancient oikos, coined by the Greek philosopher Hesiod (700 BC), and aims to critically reflect on the usage of the term ‘ecosystem’, briefly summarize the extant literature and grasp the main features of entrepreneurial ecosystems, namely the economic, technological, and societal dimensions of entrepreneurial ecosystems. We intend to focus on the key elements that characterize an ecosystem, and hence, untangle under what conditions entrepreneurial firms shape and influence economic, technological, and societal thinking within their ecosystem.