Valorisation of university driven research: Investigating the relation between process and outcomes

Knowledge valorisation is the process of creating value from academic knowledge. Value creation from academic knowledge, especially technological research, can serve as a driver of economic growth. Therefore, improving valorisation results, i.e. value creation from academic knowledge is an issue that received a lot of attention the past years. The Dutch government has set a mission to increase valorisation of academic knowledge. For doing so knowledge on valorisation processes is needed. A knowledge gap exists on the relation between valorisation processes and their output. This study addresses this knowledge gap. The objective of this study is to gain understanding of knowledge valorisation processes and their outcomes in terms of market reach and time to market. Particularly, understanding the outcomes and factors that play a role in determining the outcomes of valorisation processes is the aim of this study. Therefore, main research question is formulated as: What are the outcomes of knowledge valorisation processes of university driven research and how can the variation in outcomes be explained by factors in the process of valorisation? Based on literature research three groups of factors are identified that play a role in determining the output of valorisation: characteristics of the knowledge, characteristics of the market and university –industry interaction. The process is characterized as a 3 stage process, with the first stage the phase when initial research (academic research) takes place. The second stage is the commercialisation stage in which iterative steps iterative steps between additional research and product development take place. This stage is successful when a suitable, profitable market application is found. The process then moves on to the market introduction stage in which the products and or services are launched into the market. Results from data analysis in this study show that the nature and innovativeness of the knowledge influence the output of valorisation, i.e. determine or limit the resources needed and what can reasonably be spent. Furthermore, collaboration with industry and previous knowledge are found to have an effect on the output of valorisation, i.e. determining the resources available in the process. This study thus confirmed the effect of knowledge characteristics and university – industry interaction on the output of valorisation processes. The variance in output of the processes is explained with knowledge characteristics determining the amount of resources needed to have a successful market introduction, while the interaction with industry determines the availability or acquisition of these resources. The knowledge gained in this study extends the existing scientific knowledge framework on valorisation by providing an integrative view linking the existing knowledge on barriers in the process to the process itself and output of valorisation process. Furthermore, the knowledge in this study provides understanding of how output of valorisation is influenced by factors that play a role here. Besides the scientific contribution, this study provides insight in how the success of valorisation processes can be influenced. This knowledge is useful for researchers as well as institutional and governmental policy makers for improving valorisation results.MOTInnovation SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen