Siri Brorstad Borlaug and Magnus Gulbrandsen Inside centres of excellence – funding schemes’ effect on researchers role identity and practices

Motivation The innovation literature often emphasise the synergies between academic excellence and (potential) for innovation (e.g.Van Looy et al., 2006 and Nesta, 2006) –High correlations between high quality publication and academic entrepreneurship Researchers experience tensions between different role identities –Academia and commerce Policy’s focus on combination of excellence and innovation through dedicated funding schemes – a golden opportunity to study researchers role in relation to the goals of excellence and innovation 3

Research question How do funding schemes aiming at excellence and innovation affect researcher role identity and practices?

Researchers’ role identity –Basic and applied research functions as normative identity markers –Settler – merchant (Atkinson-Grosjean, 2006) –Buffering processes towards the world of industry and science (neither in nor out) –Researchers’ conception of own identity and their practices are affected by institutional logics 5

Institutional logics of excellence and innovation Institutional logics (Friedland and Alford, 1991) Excellence and innovation- ambiguous concepts Excellence associated with basic research, high quality publications, open science (Gulbrandsen & Kyvik, 2010; Lamont, 2009) Innovation associated with applied research, knowledge and technology transfer (Hollingsworth, 2008; Geuna & Muscio, 2009) Track these associations to early writing on the norms of science and norms of innovation (Merton, 1973; Mitroff, 1974): –Universalism versus particularism –Communalism versus private property –Disinterestedness versus personal interest

Method Case study of 8 centres –4 Centres of Excellence in Research and Innovation (CoERI) –4 Centres of Excellence (CoE) Sweden and Norway One university in each country (largest and oldest, classical multi-disciplinary) Semi-structured interviews with 33 researchers 7

Centre of Excellence and Centre of Excellence in Research and Innovation- what are they? CoE Time limited research centres, characterised by concentrated, focused and long-term fundamental research on a high international level 10 years Partners: Universities, colleges and research institutes Main selection criteria: Scientific quality CoERI Time limited research and innovation centres aimed at supporting long-term research that generates new knowledge and technology for innovation 8-10 years Partners: Universities, colleges, research institutes, firms and public offices Main selection criteria: Scientific quality and potential for innovation and value creation

Organisational conditions Formal/informal collaboration with industry and public agencies Formation of centre: embedded networks or engineered/emerging The institutional logics of innovation is embedded in the CoERI - scheme 9

Researchers’ role Bridging logicsBuffering logics CoE”I do basic and relevant research” ”What we do in the centre should be basic research” CoERI”We are a CoE + I””I have a basic researchers’ head” 10

Practices Bridging logicsBuffering logics CoEMutual interests ”We kill two birds with one stone” ”We decide upon our own agenda” CoERIIntegrated collaboration – but “I must motivate the researchers through carrots such as new equipment” Traditional academic communication practices ”I have to train the scientists to work in the innovation arena and tell them ”this is not the usual paper”” 11

Four categories Bridging logicsBuffering logics CoETension free «branded as excellent» Confine to excellence and basic research CoERILegitimating innovation logics Tensions between the logics 12

Overall results -Technology transfer – individual practices in all centres – also in CoERIs (which has this as a goal) –CoERI perceived as less acknowledge by peers and the university –CoE the A-team 13

Conclusion Funding mechanisms dedicated to excellence and innovation affect researchers’ identity Different degrees of negotiations between the two logics from bridging to buffering Organisational conditions important –embedded/emerging networks –Formal/informal collaboration They do not affect researchers’ technology transfer practices 14