Public Support of Innovation in Entrepreneurial Firms

Abstract

Public Support of Innovation in Entrepreneurial Firms Albert N. Link Edward Elgar Publishers, 2013 191 pages, $ 110.00 (Hard cover)Albert N Link is a professor of Economics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His book Public Support of Innovation in Entrepreneurial Firms is a well-chosen collection of some of his previous research in the area of public support of innovation, mainly through government programs, in small, technology-based entrepreneurial firms.A major contribution of this book is the access the author had to data collected by the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies of the United States on projects funded through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.The book is organized into four sections. Section one focuses on commercializing new technology. This section is composed of two papers:1) Bringing science to market: Commercializing from NIH SBIR awards, and2) Government as entrepreneur: Evaluating the commercialization success of SBIR projects.The papers conclude that even with the assistance of the U.S. Small Business Innovation Development Act, a firm does not have a greater chance to commercialize from a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award.Section two focuses on Employment growth from public support of innovations. This section is composed of two papers:1) Employment growth from public support of innovations in small firms, and2) Employment growth from the Small Business Innovation Research program.Employment growth is analyzed in both short-term and long-term employment. Through an analysis of the NRC data, the papers conclude that while there is no significant increase in short-term employment that can be associated with the SBIR founded research, there is an increase in long-term employment that can be associated with the SBIR program.Section three focuses on the spillover benefits from public support of innovation and it is composed of five papers:1) Public/private technology partnerships: Evaluating SBIR-supported research,2) Public gains from entrepreneurial research: Inferences about the economic value of public support of the small business innovation program,3) Public knowledge, private knowledge: The intellectual capital of entrepreneurs,4) The exploitation of publicly funded technology, and5) Regional appropriation of university-based knowledge and technology for economic development. …