GEP 2020/10: The effect of technology transfers from public research institutes and universities on firm innovativeness

Abstract

Public research institutes and universities receive large amounts of public funds for the generation and transmission of knowledge. In this paper, we assess the differential impact of technology transfers from public research institutes versus technology transfers from universities on firm innovativeness. We use information of R&D acquisitions from a panel dataset of more than 10,000 Spanish firms from 2005 to 2014. Using matching and difference-in-difference estimators, we show that technology transfers from both organizations increase firm innovativeness. Our results suggest that the knowledge generated by public research institutes is particularly beneficial to firms with high levels of absorptive capacity. In contrast, the knowledge transferred by universities is relatively more beneficial to firms with low levels of absorptive capacities. Hence, public funds for public research institutes are especially important for the R&D intensive private sector. Therefore, the degree of absorptive capacities of the participating firms is important to design public programs that maximize the efficiency of public technology transfers.

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Authors

María García-Vega and Óscar Vicente-Chirivella

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