University Entrepreneurship and Professor Privilege
36 Pages Posted: 26 Apr 2012
There are 2 versions of this paper
University Entrepreneurship and Professor Privilege
University Entrepreneurship and Professor Privilege
Date Written: April 12, 2012
Abstract
This paper analyzes how institutional differences affect university entrepreneurship. We focus on ownership of faculty inventions, and compare two institutional regimes; the US and Sweden. In the US, the Bayh Dole Act gives universities the right to own inventions from publicly funded research, whereas in Sweden, the professor privilege gives the university faculty this right. We develop a theoretical model and examine the effects of institutional differences on modes of commercialization; entrepreneurship or licenses to established firms, as well as on probabilities of successful commercialization. We find that the US system is less conducive to entrepreneurship than the Swedish system if established firms have some advantage over faculty startups, and that on average the probability of successful commercialization is somewhat higher in the US. We also use the model to perform four policy experiments as suggested by recent policy debates in both countries.
Keywords: entrepreneurship, professor privilege, commercialization, startup
JEL Classification: L24, L26, O31, O38
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation