The contribution of universities to business innovation

Empirical evidence suggests that university knowledge contributes to business innovation, by, among other benefits, inducing higher firm productivity and R&D spending, increasing the value of industry inventions, enabling innovations that would not have otherwise been possible and shortening the time lag between invention and commercialization. Firms source university knowledge through many different channels, from licensing university patents to engaging in collaborations with academics. Such interactions are more likely to occur when the university and the firm are geographical close and when they enjoy other forms of proximity such as cognitive and institutional proximity. Some directions for future research are proposed. Book synopsis: A landmark reference work in the field, this Elgar Encyclopedia presents over 60 entries from scholars that have shaped the economics of innovation as a distinct and specialised field of investigation. Comprehensive and accessible, it further elaborates the relationship between the economics of knowledge and the economics of innovation. The Encyclopedia offers an overview of the classical origins of the early economics of technical change, and the role of Schumpterian legacies and the Arrovian economics of knowledge as indispensable ingredients to understanding innovation. The entries demonstrate that the analysis of the full array of feedbacks, interactions and transactions that take place within economic systems show how and why out-of-equilibrium conditions in both factor and product markets are the cause and consequence of the introduction and diffusion of innovations. This will be a critical read for economics scholars, particularly those focusing on knowledge and innovation as it offers an understanding of the definitions of key terms in the field, the founding tenets of the topic, and the economics of knowledge and innovation in more specific contexts. It will also be a useful reference tool for business school students