Public-private Research Research Articles

The Impact of the Product Generation Life Cycle on Knowledge Valorization at the Public Private Research Partnership, the Centre for BioSystems Genomics

The present paper aims to address the impact of the product generation life cycle (PGLC) on knowledge valorization in public private research partnerships (PPRPs). Data were collected from participants in the Centre for BioSystems Genomics (CBSG), a Dutch PPRP program in the plant breeding sector. In total, 15 commercial partners participated in the study, 7 with a relatively short PGLC of 5 to 6 years, active in the tomato sector, and 8 potato partners, having a very long PGLC of up to 25 years. The results show a clear relationship between CBSG's valorization support activities and the level of knowledge utilization by the participants, although the preferred type of support activities differs between the potato and tomato companies. Firms with a long PGLC, having a higher complicacy of the R&D process, require more basic research support and extra communication tools that help to bridge the gaps caused by the long duration of the development process. Companies with short PGLCs, being challenged to keep development time of new products as short as possible in order not to miss out on market opportunities, value the PPRP most for the networking possibilities and as provider of the latest technological developments.

Drug Discovery for the Treatment of Leishmaniasis, African Sleeping Sickness and Chagas Disease

The trypanosomatid protozoa Leishmania, Trypanosoma brucei and Trypanosoma cruzi are the caustive agents of the human diseases respectively, leishmaniasis, African sleeping sickness and Chagas disease. Among the 17 ‘neglected tropical diseases’ highlighted by WHO, progress towards the treatment of these diseases has improved in recent decades, as a result of increased awareness, the emergence of public–private research partnerships and advances in drug-discovery technologies and techniques. Despite this, the current therapies for these diseases have serious shortcomings and, as such, the need to develop novel drugs, improve diagnosis and control the spread of disease is of paramount importance. Future Medicinal Chemistry invited leading experts in the field to share their thoughts and opinions on the changing face of drug discovery in the pursuit of treatments for trypanosomatid-based diseases.

Recalcitrance of Nature: Chemocatalysis for the Production of Biomass‐Based Building Blocks

Catch me if you can: Since its early days catalysis science and technology has shaped our society and provided us with the means and goods to enjoy a more prosperous life. Chemocatalytic conversion is a key enabler for the efficient utilization of biomass, an important factor in this new era of sustainability. This Special Issue of ChemSusChem is dedicated to state-of-the-art chemistry within the field, specifically focusing on the joint research efforts in The Netherlands within the public–private research consortium CatchBio.

Cover Picture: Recalcitrance of Nature: Chemocatalysis for the Production of Biomass‐Based Building Blocks (ChemSusChem 9/2013)

The cover image of this Special Issue of ChemSusChem shows the philosophy behind ”CatchBio“, a public–private research consortium in the Netherlands dedicated to state-of-the-art chemistry within the field of chemocatalytic biomass conversion. Its three-stage approach involves obtaining fundamental insight in the chemistry needed to handle biomass in chemical reactors, thereby generating leads. The most promising leads are then selected by industry based on technological and socio-economic criteria. More about this methodology and the papers in this special issue can be found in the Editorial by guest editor Bert Weckhuysen on page 1559.

The USPTO economics research agenda

This article outlines the creation of the Chief Economist’s Office at the US Patent and Trademark Office in March, 2010, and the publication of the Office’s first economics research agenda. In describing the elements of the research agenda—the role of intellectual property (IP) in economic growth, performance, and employment; IP and technology standards; the economics of trademarks; the economics of United States Patent and Trademark Office initiatives; and IP and the markets for technology—we both review the state of knowledge and outline ongoing initiatives and future possibilities. The article also suggests opportunities for ongoing public–private research collaboration on these issues, particularly between government and academic researchers.

Co-authored research publications and strategic analysis of public-private collaboration

R&D collaboration between industry and universities has been become an academic research topic in its own right. Public–private cooperation is high on many policy agenda’s nowadays, especially with regard to science-based technological innovation. Nonetheless, there is still a surprising lack of quantitative data and large-scale systematic measurement. This article presents a series of empirical studies on private–public research cooperation as measured by jointly authored research articles published in international scientific and technical journals. The tens of thousands of public–private co-publications (PPCs) that appear each year in the open scientific literature contain a wealth of information on research cooperation patterns and trends. The institutional address of each co-authoring researcher and the geographic location of their affiliation, provide data for internationally comparative statistics. These macrolevel studies, introducing aggregate-level PPC statistics for countries and European regions, examine pros and cons of PPC analytics to assess the geography of public–private research cooperation. A critical discussion of selected findings is framed within the evaluative context of European Commission policy reports, which have started to apply PPC-based metrics and performance indicators for strategic analysis of science and innovation systems. The conclusions point out that those applications should take into account the varying PPC propensities of research fields and related industrial sectors. Moreover, PPC data seem more appropriate for examining and understanding cooperation patterns at the level of city agglomerations (NUTS3 regions) within Europe than provinces or other aggregates at the NUTS2 level.

Dealing with cultural differences in public-private R&D projects: The experience of the Australian seafood sector

This essay 1) discusses the current agribusiness managers’ human capital problem of dealing with cultural differences in public-private Research & Development (R&D) projects involving firms, government agencies and universities and 2) proposes a “learning by doing” process for managers to recognize and deal with cultural differences during project implementation.

Long-run effects of public–private research joint ventures: The case of the Danish Innovation Consortia support scheme

Subsidized research joint ventures (RJVs) between public research institutions and industry have become increasingly popular in Europe and the US. We study the long-run effects of such a support scheme that has been maintained by the Danish government since 1995. To cope with identification problems we apply nearest neighbor matching and conditional difference-in-difference estimation methods. Our main findings are that (i) program participation effects are instant for annual patent applications and last for three years, (ii) employment effects materialize first after one year and (iii) there are no statistically significant effects on value added or labor productivity. We further show that these overall results are primarily driven by firms that were patent active prior to joining the RJV and that there are no statistically significant effects for large firms. The insignificant results we document for large firms coupled with the fact that these type of firms are over-represented in many support programs, including the one considered here, leads us to suggest a rethinking of support policies that often aim at large firms.

The Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster for Energy-Efficient Buildings: A New Model for Public-Private Partnerships

OVERVIEW:The Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster (GPIC) for Energy-Efficient Buildings is breaking new ground on how public-private research partnerships are conducted. A consortium of public, private, and academic institutions is working under the guidance of seven federal agencies to transform the fragmented building retrofit environment into a systems solution industry while boosting energy efficiency, creating jobs, and stimulating private investment. GPIC is unique in that it is researching not only cutting-edge technology and tools but also the policies, financial models, workforce training programs, and intellectual property agreements to support the technology. Both the technology and the accompanying frameworks will be demonstrated and deployed regionally and nationally.

Straight talk with...Valery Danilenko

Russian medicine is-at long last-undergoing a renaissance. The country's rocky economic ride following the collapse of the Soviet Union disrupted its research rubric and impoverished its healthcare system. Now, however, the nation's leadership is spearheading various initiatives to reverse the situation. One of them, the US-Russian Scientific Forum, established two years ago by a bilateral presidential commission, hopes to bring improvements by facilitating public-private research in biomedicine and innovative drugs. The Forum, which on the Russian side is represented by the country's Ministry of Health and Social Development and the Russian Academy of Sciences, among others, held its inaugural planning meeting in late April in Moscow. Valery Danilenko, who is helping to spearhead the effort and also leads the biotechnology division at the Vavilov Institute of General Genetics in Moscow, told Nature Medicine about the meeting and Russia's hopes for the Forum. The interview was conducted in Russian and translated by the interviewer, Gary Peach.

An Investigation of the Efficacy of Business and Rehabilitation Partnerships for Promoting Employment of Persons With Significant Disabilities

This study describes and examines a business-rehabilitation partnership model designed to promote rapid entry in the workplace, increased earnings, and employment duration for individuals with significant disabilities referred for employment services from community rehabilitation providers. Six geographically dispersed implementation sites enrolled 222 unemployed individuals into the study. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the following experimental conditions: (a) employment services from the business-rehabilitation partnership model or (b) an active treatment control group. Although partnership group participants reported higher earnings, the differences were not significant. The challenges and benefits with conducting public-private partnership intervention research are discussed.

Long-Run Effects of Public-Private Research Joint Ventures: The Case of the Danish Innovation Consortia Support Scheme

Subsidized research joint ventures (RJVs) between public research institutions and industry have become increasingly popular in Europe and the US. We study the long-run effects of such a support scheme that has been maintained by the Danish government since 1995. To cope with identification problems we apply nearest neighbor caliper matching and conditional difference-in-difference estimation methods. Our main findings are that (i) program participation effects are instant for annual patent applications and last for three years, (ii) employment effects materialize first after one year and (iii) there are no statistically significant effects on value added or labor productivity. We further show that these overall results are primarily driven by firms that were patent active prior to joining the RJV and that there are no statistically significant effect for large firms. Both types of firms are disproportionally represented in the support program we study.

Evaluation of public research by Japanese industry: the importance of knowledge transfer pass on public-private research collaboration

Due to the recent trend towards the incorporation of increasingly advanced and complex technologies in high-tech products and services, the full benefit of these advanced technologies cannot be realised without access to adequate science-based knowledge. Consequently, the distance of university and industry has become closer. This paper focuses on recent trends in public-private research collaboration in Japan and examines the importance of information sources/activities from public research by assessing the results of a questionnaire survey for the industry. The main findings are that 'discussions', 'cooperative research with the public sector' and 'publications from public research' are the most useful information sources for industrial R&D, while 'patents/licensing from public research' are the least. A serious mismatch is seen in incentives between the public sector and private sector on publicprivate collaboration and intellectual property transfer system.

Stakeholder interaction within research consortia on emerging technologies: Learning how and what?

One of the challenges for public–private R&D collaborations in emerging scientific fields is to actively include the demand side. Insight in how to facilitate learning between stakeholders is, however, lacking. In this paper we present an approach to facilitate and analyse learning processes in multi-stakeholder interactions within public–private research consortia working on new science and technologies. The learning processes that took place during dialogue meetings within the framework of the Dutch Ecogenomics Consortium were analysed, including a reflection on the actual effects. The results show that a carefully structured dialogue method facilitates learning between researchers, users and policy-related participants, and that this learning to some extent is anchored within the Ecogenomics Consortium. At the same time, the results point to the challenges of translating learning into action.

Strategies and benefits to effectively engage minority patients in their cancer care.

e19501 Background: The National Cancer Institute Community Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP), a public-private research partnership with 16 community hospital cancer centers in 14 states, directs 40% of its NCI funding on efforts to reduce healthcare disparities. These cancer centers work with private practice physicians to provide care to cancer patients. The NCCCP seeks to reduce barriers for minority populations to: improve access to cancer care, increase understanding about this care, expand accrual to clinical trials, and offer support for navigating the health care system. These efforts support many of the priorities noted in the June 2009 ASCO Policy Statement: Disparities in Cancer Care and offer approaches that can be adopted by other cancer care providers. Methods: The strategies which will be presented have been developed and tested at many NCCCP sites and include programs to improve: race and ethnicity tracking, cultural awareness education, accrual to clinical trials, and targeted minority outreach efforts. Tools and resources which support these efforts will be discussed and are available on the NCI web site (http://ncccp.cancer.gov/About/Progress.htm). Results: The NCCCP sites will show that they have been able to develop outreach and screening to target specific minority groups, increase the number of patients screened for clinical trials, increase staff training on cultural awareness, and increase race and ethnicity tracking. The benefits to providers in adopting these strategies will be discussed and include: improved participation in clinical trials programs, being able to engage patients more effectively for improved compliance with their treatment, and increased patient satisfaction. Conclusions: These strategies and programs are being used in many different community settings to improve access to care and improved quality of care for minority cancer patients and can be easily adapted to other locations. Providers who are interested in working to reduce disparities in cancer care will find the experience of the NCCCP to be helpful. NCI intends to expand the NCCCP program in the spring of 2010 thus further employing these strategies to more communities to reduce cancer healthcare disparities. Author Disclosure Employment or Leadership Position Consultant or Advisory Role Stock Ownership Honoraria Research Funding Expert Testimony Other Remuneration Genomic Health SenoRx Genomic Health

Understanding the Vancouver Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Cluster: A Case Study of Public Laboratories and Private Research‡

Conventional analyses of conventional industrial clusters look at the local, regional,1 national and global factors affecting their ability to compete and grow. However, it is beginning to become apparent that in at least a few cutting-edge, high-technology areas, firms compete directly on a global basis for talent and markets. A case study of the fuel cell cluster in Vancouver, Canada appears to confirm this proposition. Policy makers have realized that this cluster must compete on the world market if it is to succeed. The cluster is endowed with several favourable factors including a high quality of life for its human capital and strong support for demonstration projects.

New forms of strategic research collaboration between firms and universities in the German research system

Due to the shorter life cycles of products and services, industrial research and development (R&D) has been carried out since the 1990s under the criterion of short-term utilisation. Since a few years, however, it can be observed that large enterprises in particular are trying to establish long-term oriented strategic R&D capacities in cooperation with universities. Based on role models like the university-industry research centres in the USA, centres of excellence or competence research centres, this paper focuses on recent developments in Germany in the field of new organisational modes of industrial-university research. It will analyse new public-private research partnerships between industry and universities in Germany and will address the question whether the new mode of collaboration between industry and universities will develop as a new element in the German research system.

Assessing public–private research collaboration: is it possible to compare university performance?

It is widely recognized that collaboration between the public and private research sectors should be stimulated and supported, as a means of favoring innovation and regional development. This work takes a bibliometric approach, based on co-authorship of scientific publications, to propose a model for comparative measurement of the performance of public research institutions in collaboration with the domestic industry collaboration with the private sector. The model relies on an identification and disambiguation algorithm developed by the authors to link each publication to its real authors. An example of application of the model is given, for the case of the academic system and private enterprises in Italy. The study demonstrates that for each scientific discipline and each national administrative region, it is possible to measure the performance of individual universities in both intra-regional and extra-regional collaboration, normalized with respect to advantages of location. Such results may be useful in informing regional policies and merit-based public funding of research organizations.

Building Public-Private Research Partnerships in Troubled Times

The Indian government is launching a series of new initiatives to boost public-private research partnerships and to jumpstart science-driven economic growth. But will the current global economic downturn hamper these efforts?

University–industry collaboration in Italy: A bibliometric examination

This work investigates public–private research collaboration between Italian universities and domestic industry, applying a bibliometric type of approach. The study is based on an exhaustive listing of all co-authored publications in international journals that are jointly realized by Italian university scientists and researchers in the private sector; this listing permits the development of a national mapping system for public–private collaboration that is unique for its extensive and representative character. It is shown that, in absolute terms, most collaborations occur in medicine and chemistry, while it is industrial and information engineering that shows the highest percentage of co-authored articles out of all articles in the field. In addition, the investigation empirically examines and tests several hypotheses concerning the qualitative–quantitative impact of collaboration on the scientific production of individual university researchers. The analyses demonstrate that university researchers who collaborate with those in the private sector show research performance that is superior to that of colleagues who are not involved in such collaboration. But the impact factor of journals publishing academic articles co-authored by industry is generally lower than that concerning co-authorships with other entities. Finally, a further specific elaboration also reveals that publications with public–private co-authorship do not show a level of multidisciplinarity that is significantly different from that of other publications.