Resource Spillover from Academia to High-tech Industry

The role of universities in supporting economic development has been explored in studies emphasizing the mechanisms of technology transfer and knowledge spillover. However, in addition to intellectual capital, university scientists bring other resources into research collaboration and contribute to firm partnerships in both direct and indirect ways. This book develops the concept of resource spillover, which captures the various ways in which firms can benefit from collaborations with university scientists. The study categorizes the resources possessed by university scientists into intellectual capital, social capital, and positional capital, and tests the impact of each on the performance of firms. Using a sample of new nanotechnology-based firms in the United States, the study finds that firms benefit from research collaboration in terms of both increased research capability and research output and improved public relations and research credibility. The work contributes to the university-industry technology transfer literature and is useful to managers and policy scientists who are developing research partnership programs or intermediary organizations.