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OCR for page 227
9
Conclusions and Recommendations
This study has documented how performance in five very different industries
has been improved by contributions from academic research from the educa-
tion of graduates with research training at all levels to conceptual breakthroughs
and incremental technical advances based on basic and applied research to the
development and testing of tools, prototypes, and marketable products, processes,
and services. Numerous diverse, robust, and often mutually reinforcing vectors
link academic research to industry, including direct hiring of students, graduates,
and faculty; temporary exchanges of researchers; faculty consultancies; industry-
sponsored research contracts and grants; research centers; consortia; industrial
liaison programs; technology licensing; start-up companies; publications;
and conferences.
Research-trained graduates at all degree levels are critical to the develop-
ment, transfer, diffusion, and application of new knowledge and technology in
industry. Indeed, the interaction between research-trained individuals in academia
and in industry is essential to the exchange of knowledge and technology and to
the nation's innovation system.
Basic long-term research at universities in many fields of science and engi-
neering has had a huge impact on industry. Roughly half of all basic research in the
United States is conducted by universities. Basic long-term research is essential to
the health of universities as creators of new knowledge and understanding; and the
results of basic research in a wide range of disciplines intermingle, build on each
other, and eventually find their way by diverse paths into commercial life. Because
in most fields it is difficult for individual firms or groups of firms to appropriate
return on investment exclusively, commercial firms have little incentive to fund
227
OCR for page 228
228 THE IMPACT OF ACADEMIC RESEARCH ON INDUSTRIAL PERFORMANCE
basic research at universities. As a result, the federal government currently funds
the majority of basic research in academia.
Contributions from applied research at universities are also very important to
industry. The industry studies in this report document that academic researchers
and the academic research infrastructure are directly involved in the development
of industrial tools, prototypes, products, and production processes, as well as in the
delivery of products and services. Academic applied research has led to cumulative,
incremental advances that have been of great importance to whole industries; indi-
vidual companies have also benefited from university-based researchers working to
solve discrete practical problems related to their businesses. University-based re-
search centers, with industry participation, have become an important vector for
transferring the results of "directed" basic research and applied research to industry.
Most of the applied research and "directed" basic research performed at
universities is funded by federal agencies (e.g., the U.S. Department of Defense,
U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services) looking for solutions to specific problems. Industry funds a small por-
tion of applied research in universities, both directly and indirectly by supporting
university-based research centers that are largely federally funded. Although the
portion of academic research funded by industry increased in the 1990s, it is still
only about 7 percent of the total.
Universities have benefited greatly from interactions with industry. Despite
minimal financial support from industry, questions posed by industry often reveal
gaps in knowledge that can be addressed by long-term academic research, thus
stimulating fundamental research in many fields. This is apparent in high-
technology industries (e.g., network systems and communications and the medi-
cal devices and equipment industries). But even in other industries (e.g., financial
services or transportation, distribution, and logistics services) that perform little
if any R&D but require lots of technology, industry challenges can be important
stimuli to both basic and applied research.
The impact of university-based research on industry is not limited to research
in the natural sciences and engineering. Research in the social sciences, broadly
defined, has also made major contributions to industrial success. Research on
consumer behavior, for example, has influenced industry decision-making pro-
cesses in marketing, product design, and the setting of technical priorities; re-
search in economics has informed regulatory decisions, merger and acquisition
strategies, the development of financial products, and trade, monetary, and fiscal
policy; research in mathematics has had a direct impact on information technol-
ogy but has also been crucial to other fields (e.g., cryptography) that affect
personal and business transactions daily. In these and other fields, the cumulative
effects of academic research have led to changes in the legal and regulatory
frameworks essential to successful innovation.
Often the contributions of academic research to industry are mediated through
other disciplines or embedded in technologies, products, and services derived
OCR for page 229
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
229
from other industries. The five industry studies show how academic research in
physics, biology, and chemistry has led to new knowledge and capabilities in
microelectronics, genetic engineering, and other fields that have directly contrib-
uted to the creation of high-value, high-technology products and services. They
also show how contributions from academic research to major cross-sector tech-
nologies information technology in particular have directly benefited mul-
tiple industries. Information technology is critical to the technical and market
performance of aircraft and medical devices, for example, and has profoundly
changed the structure and performance of the financial services industry and the
transportation, distribution, and logistics services industry. The industry studies
also reveal the multidisciplinary character of many innovations in products and
services. The development of new medical devices, for example, requires not
only advances in the life sciences, but also advances in physical sciences and
engineering. Many innovations in the network systems and communications
industry depend on complementary progress in several fields of engineering and
in the physical, social, and behavioral sciences.
The committee's review clearly indicates that academic research provides
benefits to industry and has had a long-term, positive impact on industry perfor-
mance. However, it is difficult to identify specific mechanisms by which this
impact can be maximized for several reasons. First, the nature of university-
industry interactions varies from industry to industry; each of the industries stud-
ied has a distinctive environment and poses different challenges for university
researchers. Second, research competencies, ability to interface with industry,
quality of infrastructure, and many, many other circumstances vary from one
university to another. Third, in general, companies, not industries, interface with
universities. Companies in a given industry also vary in their ability to manage
that interface, in their expectations of what academic researchers can provide, in
the complexity of their research needs, and in their time horizons.
All of these factors vary over time and under different circumstances (e.g.,
economic cycles). When this study began, high-technology industries, such as
network systems and communications, were booming, attracting academic re-
searchers and potential graduate students to well funded industry laboratories,
growing operations, and new start-up companies. When the study came to a
close, this same industry had suffered decreased sales, lower stock prices, lower
investments, cutbacks in research funding, and lower employment. As this real-
world example shows, the unique characteristics of individual academic institu-
tions and the changes wrought by economic cycles both affect the impact of
academic research.
GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS
The general recommendations in this study address six challenges high-
lighted in the industry studies: (1) ensuring that universities remain repositories
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230 THE IMPACT OF ACADEMIC RESEARCH ON INDUSTRIAL PERFORMANCE
of expertise and resources in many disciplines by maintaining a balance of re-
search projects; (2) cultivating interactions between academic and industry re-
searchers; (3) harnessing academia's broad disciplinary base and potential for
cross-disciplinary research and training to meet the needs of service businesses
more effectively; (4) assessing the impact on the core research and educational
missions of universities of an increasing emphasis on intellectual property devel-
opment and management; (5) strengthening the contributions of academic re-
search to both regulatory agencies and the overall understanding of how regula-
tion and deregulation affect industrial growth and development; and (6) increasing
the contribution of academic research to the management of information for
private gain and/or public benefit in the information age.
General Recommendation 1. Because the contributions of academic research
are diverse and often indirect, a broad and balanced portfolio of academic re-
search should be maintained. Recent trends in federal funding indicate that fund-
ing levels for research in the physical sciences, engineering, and the social and
behavioral sciences should be increased.
.
.
Congress and the administration should restore the balance in federal
funding of academic research by increasing support for research in the
physical sciences, engineering, and the social and behavioral sciences to
complement and leverage the results of recent heavy investments in the
life sciences and medical sciences.
Federal funding of academic research should continue to emphasize long-
term basic research, as well as applied research (typically funded by
mission agencies). Multidisciplinary research should be encouraged
through support of project-specific research teams and other institution-
alized mechanisms, such as engineering research centers and other
university-industry research centers.
General Recommendation 2. Industries and universities should continue to
explore mechanisms and pathways for bringing the benefits of academic re-
search to industry, keeping in mind that what works well in one industry may not
work well in another. Both partners should experiment with new approaches.
University-industry research linkages should be adaptable, and universities
should be on the lookout for opportunities to link up with new industries and
explore leading-edge industry research activities and challenges.
Given the importance of personal relationships among academic and indus-
trial researchers for productive collaboration and knowledge transfer, universities
and industry should foster interactions between university- and industry-based
scientists and engineers in the following ways:
OCR for page 231
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
.
.
231
A major program of fellowships should be established to attract and sup-
port graduate students in science and engineering.
· Sabbatical programs should be established and/or expanded to encourage
academic and industry researchers to spend time in each other's home
research settings.
More balanced participation by academic researchers and their industry
counterparts in major conferences on specific sectors, technical systems,
and disciplines should be encouraged.
New ways of supporting personal interactions across academia-industry
boundaries, including using technology to support collaboration, should
be explored.
· University-industry research centers should be structured to facilitate close
interaction between academic and industry researchers.
Academic reward structures, such as promotion and tenure criteria, should
be reviewed and modified (as necessary) to encourage and reward re-
searchers who attract research support from industry and/or address sig-
nificant research questions of direct importance to industry.
· Intellectual property rights policies and practices that facilitate pro-
ductive research collaboration with industry should be promulgated
at universities.
General Recommendation 3. The ability of academic researchers to contribute
to services industries and the receptivity of leaders in the services industries to
the potential contributions of academic research must both be improved. The
following steps would have immediate benefits:
.
.
Academic research contributions and capabilities relevant to each indus-
try should be documented and promoted in the targeted communities to
educate senior managers about how academic research might improve
company performance in the marketplace.
· Common legal frameworks acceptable to industry and academia should
be established detailing the terms of confidentiality and related conditions
to facilitate academic researchers' access to operational networks and
real-time data.
Federal mission and regulatory agencies with primary responsibility for
the services industries (e.g., Securities and Exchange Commission, Inter-
nal Revenue Service, Federal Communications Commission, and U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services) should consider funding aca-
demic research in ways that encourage greater participation by the ser-
vices industries. Engineering research centers funded by the National
Science Foundation and university transportation centers funded by the
U.S. Department of Transportation could serve as models.
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232 THE IMPACT OF ACADEMIC RESEARCH ON INDUSTRIAL PERFORMANCE
General Recommendation 4. Individual researchers and organizations, such as
the Association of University Technology Managers, that gather data on univer-
sity research and technology-transfer activities should continue to monitor and
assess the effectiveness of incentives for transferring academic research results
(particularly intellectual property policies and practices) and the impact of entre-
preneurial activity by academic researchers on the traditional university missions
of education, research, and service. The following issues should be addressed:
· The costs to institutions of patenting research results, including the costs
of maintaining and defending patents, should be assessed and compared
to the benefits, in terms of income from licenses and royalties.
· Steps being taken to disseminate patent information to improve
the chances of commercialization should be reviewed and best prac-
tices identified.
· Best practices in the long-term management of patent inventories should
be shared among research institutions.
· The effectiveness of technology transfer via patented inventions should
be assessed and compared to transfer via more traditional mechanisms,
such as publications. The benefits to faculty and universities should also
be compared.
The impact of university-industry research collaboration and technology
transfer activities on undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education,
the composition of academic research, the stability of academic research
funding, the private and social returns from academic research, the many
traditional service roles of the university, and other related issues should
be assessed.
.
General Recommendation 5. Government regulatory agencies, including the
Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Fed-
eral Communications Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commis-
sion, should be encouraged to maintain and strengthen their productive inter-
action with academic researchers and to continue to explore new mechanisms for
bringing scientific and engineering advances, including scientifically based con-
cepts and tools, to bear more rapidly and effectively on regulatory processes.
General Recommendation 6. Government, industry, and universities should
work together to meet the challenges and opportunities created by information
technologies. The following steps would be beneficial:
· Boost federal funding for fundamental research in information technolo-
gies, as part of an effort to redress the imbalance in federal funding for
various disciplines in academic research.
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CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
.
.
233
Increase public and private sector investment in software research, with
an emphasis on (1) engineering methods for assessing and improving
quality and (2) software that is more flexible and responsive to changing
business conditions.
Support more interdisciplinary research on existing and potential infor-
mation technologies that combines engineering methods and the social
and behavioral sciences.
OCR for page 234
Representative terms from entire chapter:
industrial performance
