Aggregate patterns of linkage of nanotechnology engineering centers with industry Luciano Kay School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology.

Aggregate patterns of linkage of nanotechnology engineering centers with industry

Luciano KaySchool of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology

and

Georgia Tech Program in Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy

Project: Assessment of 15 Nanotechnology Science and Engineering Centers’ (NSECs): Outcomes and Impacts: Their Contribution to NNI Objectives and Goals, NSF 0955089.

Juan D. Rogers (PI), Jan Youtie (Co-PI), Alan Porter (Co-PI), Philip Shapira (Co-PI)

Evaluation 2011: Values and Valuing in EvaluationNovember 2-5, Anaheim, California

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Presentation outline

NSEC centers and collaborations with industry

Expected center-industry relationships and our research

FindingsImplications for centers policyQ&A

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The case of NSEC centers and collaborations with industry

Nanotechnology Science and Engineering Centers (NSECs) program funded by National Science Foundation

Collaborations with industry are implicit in the four goals of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI)

Purpose: “the transfer of new technologies into products for commercial and public benefit”

The commercial potential of research on nanoscience and nanotechnology is one of the main justifications for its public support

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Traditional expectations about centers’ interactions with industry

Interactions ~ proxy for commercializationLinear process of research, technology

development, and commercialization through spin-offs

Venture capital is a main component in this perspective

Large companies are considered to have their own R&D center

Lack of understanding of capacity development in center-industry linkages

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Research approach

Quantitative and qualitative analyses to establish program level patterns of linkage between centers and industryo Publication and patent data analysis

o Interviews with centers’ participants

o Analysis of centers’ reports

Real-time assessment

Interest in emergent patterns of interaction amongst all centers and companies to map the network of relationso Focus beyond merely one-to-one instances of center-industry

relations

Seek understanding centers-industry capacity development

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1. NSEC centers produce spin-offs

Research activities have led to the creation of new companies to develop the commercial applications of those results

Several centers are creating new spin-off companies at a rate of more than one company a year

The rapid commercial viability of research results, however, is not universal across topics in a field so the differences across centers are mostly a function of their specialty

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2. Industry co-authorships indicate integration of collaborative activities

Total unique firms co-authoring articles with NSEC (2001-2010): 146Total unique firms maintaining other types of collaborations with NSEC (as of 2010): 275**

Notes: * Publication data for this period not reported by all NSEC centers at time of data collection and the last year was incomplete in the databases; last column reports average annual change for rows with change data. **The type of collaborations are not specified by centers (only number of industry partners was provided).Source: ISI-WoS publication data based on NSEC annual reports by center and lists of industry partners provided by NSEC centers.

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 20082009-10*

2001-10*

NSEC centers with publications 3 6 6 13 13 15 15 15 13 15NSEC publications (all centers) 66 133 221 262 499 515 715 737 361 3,509NSEC pubs. co-auth. with industry 12 13 16 17 35 52 76 65 34 360▪ Annual change 8% 23% 6% 106% 49% 46% -14% -48% 22%▪ Share industry co-auth / all pubs. 18% 10% 7% 6% 7% 10% 11% 9% 9% 10%Unique co-author firms 11 13 9 16 31 29 50 43 22 146▪ Annual change 18% -31% 78% 94% -6% 72% -14% -49% 20%

8Notes: Node size represents number of publications in the period 2001-2010. Edge size represents number of co-authorships. Red nodes represent 15 NSECs. Gray nodes represent industry partners. Green lines represent co-authorships. Blue lines represent other types of collaborations. Source: Analysis based on list of industry partners provided by NSEC centers as of 2010 and publications in ISI-WoS database for period 2001-2010.

Co-authorships andcollaborations(2001-2010)

421 unique companies360 co-authored publications

3. The NSEC network involves diverse types of interactions with companies

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Separating co-authorship network from other interactions shows diversity

Co-authorships(2001-2010)

Other collaborations(2001-2010)

Other collaborations include e.g. beta-testing of prototypes and materials, exploration of new ideas, development of standards.

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Main industry co-authors are a few U.S. and foreign large companies

Notes: Node size represents number of publications in the period 2001-2010. Edge size represents number of co-authorships. Red nodes represent 15 NSECs. Gray nodes represent industry partners. Green lines represent co-authorships. Blue lines represent other types of collaborations. Labels are shown only for NSEC centers (anonymized) and top-25 industry partners according to number of co-authored publications.Source: Analysis based on list of industry partners provided by NSEC centers as of 2010 and publications in ISI-WoS database for period 2001-2010.

The graph only shows NSEC centers and top-15 industry collaborators in publications

(2001-2010)

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4. Some companies use NSEC centers as a network

421 unique companies (2001-2010)146 have co-authored with NSEC centers275 maintained other collaborations

Companies usemultiple NSEC

centers

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Implications for Center Policy (I)

Expectations for center-industry collaborations should go beyond the traditional oneso Commercialization

o Capacity development through various types of connections (still, further assessment requires time)

A centers program may become a key R&D resource for industryo NSEC centers and industry become interdependent

o Centers offer unique infrastructure possibilities for industry Leverage of resources for shared new facilities

Design and testing of new unique instruments and experimental organizational arrangements

Source for new ideas

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Implications for Center Policy (II)

The diversity of center-industry collaborations reflects centers’ activitieso NSEC centers’ research involves both foundational and

emerging topical areas which correlate with diverse forms of industry collaborations

Complementarities emerge from the integration of both publication co-authorships and other activitieso A core industry sector relies on the NSEC program as a

network of centers, from previous evidence of companies having their own R&D center

o A wide-array of other companies, including both large and SMEs, also collaborate in various forms

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Thank you!

Q&AContact data:

Luciano KayPostdoctoral FellowSchool of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of TechnologyandGeorgia Tech Program in Science, Technology, and Innovation

Policy

[email protected]