NIST GCR
02-829
Universities as Research Partners
4. Concluding Observations
The general topic that
we have investigated has not previously been studied by academic scholars
or professionals in sufficient detail for us to have a theoretical foundation
from which to base our inquiry. Many of the concepts we attempted to
quantify are new, and certainly the survey questions posed to address
them are exploratory in construction.
In addition, our analytical
tools are not sufficiently sophisticated to draw conclusions about directions
of causality. The statistical associations that were emphasized in the
previous sections are just that, statistical associations (albeit robust
associations), and not evidence of independent and dependent relationships.
More research will certainly need to be done on the general subject of
universities as research partners before such inferences can be made.
Finally, our analyses are
based in some cases on very small sample sizes (e.g., when we control
for technology field) so that analysis is in many cases subject to substantial
sampling error (reflected in the standard errors) and some effects are
difficult to identify owing to the sparseness of the relevant covariates.
Two additional conclusions
follow but they must be judged in the context of the foregoing caveats.
The first relates to how universities create research awareness and the
other to how universities influence the scope of the research.
UNIVERSITIES CREATE RESEARCH AWARENESS
IN ATP-FUNDED PROJECTS
Those involved in projects
with university involvement, either as a research partner or as a subcontractor,
(a) experience difficulties acquiring and assimilating basic knowledge
for the project’s progress (Table 4)
and (b) do not anticipate being able to develop and commercialize technology
sooner than expected when the project began (Table
7).
At one level, university
involvement may be creating research problems. We eschew that interpretation;
ATP-funded projects with university involvement are less likely to terminate
early compared with projects without university involvement (Tables
2 and A1). We conclude, albeit
cautiously, that university involvement may be creating a greater awareness
of research issues than would otherwise be the case.
Thus, we offer a possible
interpretation of the research role of a university.(31) Universities
are included (e.g., invited by industry) in those research projects that
involve what we have called “new” science. It is the collective
perception of the other research participant(s) that the university may
provide insight into what might be a future research problem down the
road. Universities may also anticipate and translate the complex nature
of the research being undertaken. Thus, universities may be purposively
involved in projects that are difficult in nature, where basic knowledge
is somewhat lacking, and where the resulting research will not move quickly
toward a commercial application.
RESEARCH FUNDING INFLUENCES THE
SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH
Projects with larger budgets
take on research of a broader scope. With larger budgets more personnel
are needed. With more personnel, more difficulties arise (Table
5). However, projects with larger budgets also tend to focus energy
on research requiring a longer time until commercialization (Table
7). These statistical associations are not inconsistent with projects
attempting to expand frontiers of research. It is, however, also true
that larger budgeted projects have fewer problems acquiring and assimilating
basic knowledge (Table 4). Thus, if the
larger budgeted projects were broader, the scope and breadth would appear
to address new applications (new generic technology across many industries)
rather than fundamental basic research. Or perhaps the larger budgets
allow for more experienced project managers to work on ATP projects.
We do not speculate as
to the extent to which our findings can be generalized to other projects
that are partially publicly funded or to private sector joint ventures
with and without university research interactions. As more research is
conducted on this topic, the wider applicability of the observations
in this concluding section will and should be tested.
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 31. Absent
baseline information about the technical difficulty of the projects
or their closeness to “new” science other than technology
field, this interpretation is offered cautiously.
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Date created: October 18,
2002
Last updated:
August 2, 2005
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