Daniel Ljungberg

Polarization of the Swedish University Sector Structural Characteristics and Positioning

Universities have increasingly been facing a focus on competition for research resources, not the least for external funding. This paper studies structural characteristics of the Swedish university sector and these characteristics relation to the propensity of universities to attract external research funding. The findings show a clear polarization of the sector into ‘Larger research and teaching intensive’ universities, accessing the lion’s share of external research funding, and ‘Smaller education dependent’ higher education institutions. Following from this, the paper discusses specialization and division of labor among universities, in relation to the ability to gain critical mass and excellence in research.

How public policy can stimulate the capabilities of firms to innovate in a traditional industry through academic engagement: The case of the Swedish food industry

This paper shows how public policy can stimulate innovation in low- and medium-technology industries, by connecting firms and universities through collaborative scientific research. A conceptual framework proposes that collaborative research between universities and firms may result in tangible innovative outcomes, such as new or improved products or processes, and intangible outcomes that strengthen firms’ internal capabilities and thereby indirectly increase their innovativeness. Findings are presented from a case study of a Swedish public policy stimulating the development of firm capabilities for innovation, through collaborative research projects connecting universities and firms in the food industry between 1998 and 2006. In line with the conceptual framework, the analysis distinguishes between (i) direct outcomes, such as new products; and (ii) indirect outcomes in the form of the development of firms’ capabilities to innovate. Based on this analysis, the initial conceptual framework is expanded to indicate how policy can stimulate the development of firms’ capabilities.

Academic Inventors and Firm Inventiveness: A Quasi-Experimental Analysis of Firms' Patents

This paper analyzes the average effect of involving academics as inventors on the tech- nological importance of firms’ patents. Drawing on a database of Swedish academic patents, a quasi-experimental design is employed by matching firms’ academic and non-academic patents on a set of patent characteristics. The findings point to a negative effect of academic in- ventors on the technological impact of firms’ patents. Results moreover show a positive effect of academic involvement on the generality of firms’ patents, indicating a more widespread impact. The persistence of firms’ academic patents, measuring the extent to which patents’ knowledge is spread and retained in subsequent inventions, also show a positive effect of academic involvement. These findings suggest that firms on average involve academics in early stages of technology development.

Knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship in manufacturing and creative industries: Same, same, but different

To date, there is little empirical evidence on the specificities and commonalities of entrepreneurship in the creative industries relative to other sectors. This paper explores this issue by comparing knowledge‐intensive entrepreneurship (KIE) in the manufacturing and creative industries by examining their differences and similarities. Given the lack of prior studies, our comparison is exploratory and based on descriptive statistics. We use survey data that comes from a large‐scale Eurupean Union research project (AEGIS) which studied KIE firms across 10 countries and a diverse set of industries. Our analysis shows that KIE firms in creative industries resemble those in manufacturing in several dimensions, but also that there are some pronounced differences, such as (i) a higher level of knowledge intensity of KIE firms in creative industries, with higher educational attainment of both founders and employees; (ii) that personal financing plays a much larger role in creative industries; (iii) KIE in creative industries focuses more on service innovations, but introduces radical innovations to a lesser extent; and (iv) they remain smaller in terms of number of employees and turnover, but are more profitable than KIE in manufacturing relative to their size. We end the paper by pointing out directions for future research, based on our exploratory results.

The teaching and societal services nexus: academics' experiences in three disciplines

In this paper, we investigate the perception of academics regarding how their experiences from societal interaction (third mission) inform their teaching and vice versa. We report on a phone survey of Swedish academics in three engineering-related disciplines. The findings show that there is a perceived positive and bidirectional relationship between societal interaction and teaching. Industry-related activities were perceived to inform teaching more than other types of societal interaction. While societal interaction is at large more important for the academics in their search for relevant teaching topics and content, teaching was deemed more important for the implementation of societal interaction. We conclude by proposing that academics creatively (re)combine experiences from third mission and education, often mediated by their research activities.

Collaboration Between Universities in Sweden

For the last decades, the European university sector has faced a major, and still on-going, transformation, affecting the role of universities in the knowledge economy. The university is shifting from a social institution providing public goods towards a knowledge business providing a mix of public and private goods and services (Deiaco et al, From social institutions to knowledge business. In: McKelvey M, Holmen M (eds) Learning to compete in European universities. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham/Northampton, 2009).

Collaborative Strategies: How and Why Academic Spin-offs Interact with Engineering University Centers

This chapter follows the management and development of two KIE ventures that are academic spin-offs, in relation to collaborative strategies. The perspective is on how and why academic spin-offs continue to engage in collaborative strategies with engineering centers located at the university. The KIE ventures use the centers to access scientific and technological knowledge, as expected, but they also are interested in accessing other resources and networks to help further develop their research, product and market development. The key message is that networks with research centers at the university help shape the venture. Even after the founding phase, these KIE ventures can use collaborative strategies for research to access resources and ideas – involving scientific and technological knowledge but also market and business knowledge. The results of the chapter help us understand in particular how the venture needs to continue to access resources and ideas, even during the management and development phase of the KIE conceptual model. The KIE ventures are academic spin-offs, heavily involved in the development of technologies, and yet they greatly benefit from these university networks to access market knowledge from other, established firms, and to access business knowledge through the recruitment of experienced managers.