Collaborative Innovation and Knowledge Creation: Theory and Testing with a Natural Experiment in Japan

University of California, San Diego, Rady School of Management Working Paper

40 Pages Posted: 5 Jan 2014

See all articles by Kanetaka Maki

Kanetaka Maki

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) - Rady School of Management

Vish Krishnan

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) - Rady School of Management

Date Written: November 14, 2013

Abstract

The growing complexity of industrial research and development has created the need for collaboration between industry researchers and university faculty. Drivers of such collaborative joint research between universities and firms, resulting in co-authored publications, have received relatively little research attention. In this paper, we develop and test a simple theoretical model of university-industry co-authored publications and the impact of an intermediary - the university’s Technology Transfer Office (TTO) - on such joint research. Our analysis shows that TTO can have a negative impact on collaboration by actively pursuing intellectual property (IP) and increasing the transaction costs for the collaborating parties, but the TTO impact is shown to be felt differently by junior researchers in comparison with senior University researchers. These predictions are examined using data collected based on a natural experiment in Japan. Japanese universities were “forced” to introduce a TTO by their national government in the years 1998-2002. We consider this exogenous shock and examine the impact of joint research, using co-authorship of academic articles between researchers at universities and firms as an indicator of joint research. Using panel data, the results of our analysis weigh in on the model findings: the creation of TTO has a mixed and differential effect on joint research between university researchers and firms. Our theoretical model and empirical evidence offers one of the first models of joint research validated with a novel empirical dataset and suggests that intermediaries such as TTO may adversely impact joint publications between universities and firms, if not properly managed. Implications and next steps are discussed.

Keywords: collaborative innovation and knowledge creation, natural experiment, translation of science

Suggested Citation

Maki, Kanetaka and Krishnan, Vish, Collaborative Innovation and Knowledge Creation: Theory and Testing with a Natural Experiment in Japan (November 14, 2013). University of California, San Diego, Rady School of Management Working Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2374730 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2374730

Kanetaka Maki (Contact Author)

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) - Rady School of Management ( email )

9500 Gilman Drive
Rady School of Management
La Jolla, CA 92093
United States

Vish Krishnan

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) - Rady School of Management ( email )

9500 Gilman Drive
Rady School of Management
La Jolla, CA 92093
United States

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