Creso M. Sá

Science, Business, and Innovation: Understanding Networks in Technology‐Based Incubators

This study investigates the formation of networks in a major Canadian technology‐based incubator. Technology‐based incubators have spread around the world as a tool to accelerate the growth and survival of high‐tech companies. One of the central features of incubators is the provision of networking opportunities for tenants to establish collaborative relationships with other organizations. Using a qualitative methodology, this study seeks to better conceptualize the interplay between the networking strategies of high‐tech firms and the environment of incubators. This study reveals that far from an undifferentiated phenomenon, different kinds of networks are created in a high‐tech incubator environment. Factors that enable and constrain such networks are identified. This study points to the variegated nature of networks, suggesting that greater attention is needed to the conceptualization of inter‐organizational interactions in technology‐based incubators.

University-industry research collaborations in Canada: the role of federal policy instruments

Canadas research policy has aimed to facilitate technology transfer from universities and induce innovation in industry for the past three decades. This article examines the policy instruments currently employed by the federal government in Canada to stimulate university-industry research linkages. First, the article examines the national landscape of industry R&D and its interface with university research. Then, multiple policy instruments are identified, and their goals and functions are examined. Finally, the article discusses the main features and implications of Canadas policy approach. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

Strategic Faculty Hiring in Two Public Research Universities: Pursuing interdisciplinary connections

This paper examines innovations in strategic faculty hiring emphasizing interdisciplinarity at two major public research universities in the USA. The research investigated how and why the Pennsylvania State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison chose to pursue interdisciplinary faculty recruitment, how it was structured, and how it was intended to cause changes in academic work at each university. The paper analyzes how the interdisciplinary aims of those innovations intersected with competitive pressures, resource acquisition strategies, and organizational problems. Implications are discussed in the last section.

Understanding how organisations use the internet to mobilise knowledge: findings from the field of education

This study examines the strategies used by organisations in the field of education to share the findings of research with potential users through their organisational websites. A parsimonious typology of web-based strategies was developed, based on the analysis of 178 institutional websites and on the relevant literature. Findings suggest that despite the hype around the potential of the internet to facilitate the broader dissemination of knowledge, the strategies of universities and other organisations in the field of education are still in their infancy. Limitations and possibilities of existing practices are discussed.

Financial management of Canadian universities: adaptive strategies to fiscal constraints

Decreasing government funding and regulated tuition policies have created a financially constrained environment for Canada’s universities. The conventional response to such conditions is to cut programme offerings and services in an attempt to lower costs throughout the institution. However, we argue that three Canadian universities have reacted with a different response. Instead of cutting costs, the University of Toronto, Queen’s University and the University of Lethbridge have chosen to implement decentralized budgeting and management structures in an attempt to increase efficiency and seek out new revenues. Using interview data and document analysis, this paper discusses the responses of these institutions and what they tell us about the strategies universities employ to cope with financial challenges that are likely to persist.

Pursuing scientific excellence globally: internationalising research as a policy target

International collaboration is a rapidly growing aspect of university research and a priority of research funding agencies. This article investigates the rationales that underlie Canadian federal research councils’ support of international research collaborations. Such support has deep roots in Canadian science and technology policy but has taken on a new importance in the past decade. Even in a context of increasingly costly scientific activity and fierce competition for resources, four sets of goals and associated arguments underpin investments in international collaboration: (1) creating economy of scale, (2) developing human resources, (3) advancing economic and scientific competitiveness and (4) solving global problems. Overall, international research collaborations are today a key policy target in Canada, sought for a variety of reasons but not without challenges.

Open science strategies in research policies: A comparative exploration of Canada, the US and the UK

Several movements have emerged related to the general idea of promoting ‘openness’ in science. Research councils are key institutions in bringing about changes proposed by these movements, as sponsors and facilitators of research. In this paper we identify the approaches used in Canada, the US and the UK to advance open science, as a step towards understanding how policy in this area is evolving. The findings highlight three broad patterns across the countries, showing that open science is supported not only be the activities of individual research councils, but also through government mandates and inter-council cooperation. These patterns involve efforts to create a digital infrastructure for open science, to foster open access, and to support open data initiatives.

Technology Commercialization as University Mission: Early Historical Developments at the University of Toronto

Canadian universities are perceived as less vibrant and engaged generators of technologies with commercial value than their American counterparts, and such perceptions have driven science policy for decades. This paper shows that contrary to these prevailing views, Canada’s largest university has a long history of experience in dealing with the technological gaps in national industry and in attempting to work with domestic firms. Three historical periods, particularly critical in shaping these interactions, are identified and discussed. By the time policy initiatives began emphasizing university-industry relationships, the university had already built essential organizational underpinnings for the commercialization of technologies.

Research and the ‘Third Mission’ in Light of Global Events

Research activity is becoming more geographically dispersed, whether one examines corporate research and development (R&D) or academic investigation conducted in universities and other scientific institutions. The chapter situates Brazil in this global context, with the aim of addressing the following question: how ready are Brazilian universities to contribute to industrial innovation, considering the growing globalisation of R&D? To address this question, the chapter reviews major policy developments over the last 15 years, delineating the conditions that shape the ability of Brazilian universities to contribute to industrial innovation in the 2010s.

Forget the Competition Trope

The current debate on internationalization has revolved around the impacts of nationalist politics in many countries on student mobility. In recent research, we have questioned the usual assumption that major host countries have been engaged in an ongoing “brain race.” Through an analysis of the politics and public policies impacting international students in Australia, Canada, England, and the United States during a sixteen year period, we show that there is no clear pattern of “competition” among countries, but rather uncoordinated and inconsistent actions.