Introduction

Universities, viewed as fountains of knowledge, produce the world's most important resources: young minds and an educated labor force, which in turn produce cutting-edge research and innovative ideas and products that contribute directly to economic development. Thus, universities contribute directly to a region's economic growth, making universities a highly desirable and almost essential resource for a region.

The economic development effected by a university is evaluated by the amount of technology commercialization it generates. Patents, licenses, and spin-out firms are easy to quantify and use as a measurement of university productivity. Technology firms tend to develop near universities as a result of the knowledge spillover generated by university research. The mere existence of a university in a region, however, is not a guarantee of economic success.

So what determines how well a region benefits from the presence of an innovative research university? There are two main factors: the ability of the university to transfer knowledge to the public domain and to commercialize technology, and the region's ability to absorb that information. Some regions are better able than others to innovate and commercialize technology. By focusing on university knowledge transfer and technology commercialization, the fountain of knowledge, we can evaluate whether the research that universities are expected to do is beneficial and valuable to local economic development—after all, it is demanding and requires many resources of these higher education institutions.

The Fountain of Knowledge analyzes two world-renowned universities, their investment in technology commercialization, and the outcome of that contribution in their local economies. This book has three main arguments. One is that the way in which a university goes about improving its technology-transfer capability matters. Conducting a focused and thoughtful comprehensive change that includes all sections of the university will improve commercialization. Second, by choosing a particular path of change, the university also changes its role and its ability to contribute to the region. Third, not all changes will positively affect the local economy.

THE ROLES OF THE UNIVERSITY

The evaluation of university technology commercialization is vital, considering that the traditional roles of universities have been research and teaching. These original roles of universities have been intensely discussed over the past century at both national and regional levels. Should universities remain islands of research, free of politics, economics, and social class? Or should they participate as active players in local economies and societies?

Historically, universities were the domain of the upper classes, who studied such esoteric subjects as literature and philosophy. Over time, universities began to serve the general public, offering more practical subjects, such as applied research, and training students for professions like medicine and law. By the early 1900s universities had become recognized as regional and national engines of growth.

The modern university, as it developed in the nineteenth century, is an important source of new knowledge and technologies, with the potential to be commercialized (Scott 1977). Today's model of the university has a public-service component, offering a wider base for research and teaching—both of which have the power to promote social change. According to Scott (1977), the service component was a direct result of changes in modern society—that is, growth in the number of students and demand for skilled workers. The university service component was influenced by a neoliberal economic perspective. From that perspective, universities are evaluated on the basis of their contribution to the economy. Therefore, in most countries, universities that rely heavily on public funding are pressured to "pay back" the community and act like responsible citizens (Russell 1993).

The pressure on modern universities to pay back the community has created what is known as the "third role" of universities. Many universities are now obliged to make a contribution to society through research and development (R&D), collaborations, and technology transfer with industry (Minshall, Druilhe, and Probert 2004). Collaborating with industry is a significant change from the original mission of the university, representing an expectation of service that many institutions are not ready or willing to make. However, there is an apparent public benefit for industry collaborations. Universities are an important source of a skilled labor force that is often trained through public funding. Moreover, commercialization can be a solution for universities' financial constraints as well as a way for students to gain industry experience. Hence, university-industry collaboration and proximity promote the formation of industry and economic growth.

However, there is still a debate over university-industry relationships. Studies of higher education institutions emphasize the ability of universities to become important contributors because they are centers of "free" thinking. The idea behind the tenure-track position was to allow faculty to work on new ideas without any constraints. Some of the most interesting innovations, such as electricity, started with a totally different research question in mind. In many cases the discoveries were even found in different schools of thought. Should we predicate what universities need to work on because we know they are capable of producing the next generation of technology? Are we not limiting the fountain of knowledge this way to a mere drizzle?

Some scholars believe that there should be a separation of university and industry. Those scholars claim that academics do not possess the business knowledge to determine which projects should be commercialized, nor should public universities provide services to a specific private market or a particular industry. Technology transfer requires universities to be attuned to, and work with, industry's business perspective. Spin-out companies in particular require different business skills from those that universities are normally equipped with, such as expertise in entrepreneurship, business development, and venture capital. Furthermore, technology-transfer offices need to be able to assess inventions and decide whether they have a commercial value. Thus, they need to employ specialists or hire consultants to evaluate the technology, which is often expensive. Is this the knowledge we are looking for when we consider universities as fountains of knowledge?

TO MEASURE?

Many claim that by being fountains of knowledge, universities already contribute to regional and national...