The role of universities in the national innovation systems of China and the East Asian NIEs: An exploratory analysis of publications and patenting data

Abstract

The Triple Helix model highlights the ‘third mission’ of universities to engage in IP (intellectual property) creation and technology transfer activities further downstream. This paper uses publications data and US patent data to examine the role played by leading research-intensive universities in the national innovation systems of the emerging economy of China and the newly industrialised economies (NIE) of Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan. Our analysis highlights significant differences amongst these five East Asian economies, and also reveals contrasts to observed patterns in the USA and Europe. Our findings confirm that universities in the five economies have increased their contribution to their respective national innovation systems in terms of research output and R&D collaboration. The NIE universities experienced rapid patent growth rates over 1995–2005, followed by Chinese universities in the subsequent period of 2006–2010. However, the contribution of universities in all five East Asian economies to the total volume of IP creation in their economies generally remains low. Moreover, patent quality is low compared to patents from non-university sectors, suggesting weak technology commercialisation impacts.