Real Effects of Academic Research Revisited

This Chapter surveys the findings of social science research on the contribution of universities to innovation and economic growth, both locally/regionally and globally. In the last several decades research has demonstrated universities’ causal effects through the mechanisms of knowledge creation, education and training of students, and technology transfer/entrepreneurship. The Chapter summarizes how the literature has studied each of these mechanisms, and how the findings have probed variation across disciplines and economic sectors. The depth and breadth of understanding have been advanced by new microdata and new methods of linking data across inventions, scientists and institutions, and by application of methods from network science. We emphasize that research has proven the importance of these effects on average, but to date has less to say about the determinants of success or failure in different contexts. These findings have implications for public policy to foster innovation both regionally and globally.