Aggregate patterns of linkage of nanotechnology engineering centers with industry Luciano Kay School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology and Georgia Tech Program in Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy Project: Assessment of 15 Nanotechnology Science and Engineering Centers’ (NSECs): Outcomes and Impacts: Their Contribution to NNI Objectives and Goals, NSF Juan D. Rogers (PI), Jan Youtie (Co-PI), Alan Porter (Co-PI), Philip Shapira (Co-PI) Evaluation 2011: Values and Valuing in Evaluation November 2-5, Anaheim, California

Presentation outline  NSEC centers and collaborations with industry  Expected center-industry relationships and our research  Findings  Implications for centers policy  Q&A 2

The case of NSEC centers and collaborations with industry  Nanotechnology Science and Engineering Centers (NSECs) program funded by National Science Foundation  Collaborations with industry are implicit in the four goals of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI)  Purpose: “the transfer of new technologies into products for commercial and public benefit”  The commercial potential of research on nanoscience and nanotechnology is one of the main justifications for its public support 3

Traditional expectations about centers’ interactions with industry  Interactions ~ proxy for commercialization  Linear process of research, technology development, and commercialization through spin-offs  Venture capital is a main component in this perspective  Large companies are considered to have their own R&D center Lack of understanding of capacity development in center- industry linkages 4

Research approach  Quantitative and qualitative analyses to establish program level patterns of linkage between centers and industry oPublication and patent data analysis oInterviews with centers’ participants oAnalysis of centers’ reports  Real-time assessment  Interest in emergent patterns of interaction amongst all centers and companies to map the network of relations oFocus beyond merely one-to-one instances of center-industry relations  Seek understanding centers-industry capacity development 5

1. NSEC centers produce spin-offs  Research activities have led to the creation of new companies to develop the commercial applications of those results  Several centers are creating new spin-off companies at a rate of more than one company a year  The rapid commercial viability of research results, however, is not universal across topics in a field so the differences across centers are mostly a function of their specialty 6

2. Industry co-authorships indicate integration of collaborative activities Total unique firms co-authoring articles with NSEC ( ): 146 Total unique firms maintaining other types of collaborations with NSEC (as of 2010): 275** Notes: * Publication data for this period not reported by all NSEC centers at time of data collection and the last year was incomplete in the databases; last column reports average annual change for rows with change data. **The type of collaborations are not specified by centers (only number of industry partners was provided). Source: ISI-WoS publication data based on NSEC annual reports by center and lists of industry partners provided by NSEC centers * * NSEC centers with publications NSEC publications (all centers) ,509 NSEC pubs. co-auth. with industry ▪ Annual change 8%23%6%106%49%46%-14%-48% 22% ▪ Share industry co-auth / all pubs.18%10%7%6%7%10%11%9% 10% Unique co-author firms ▪ Annual change 18%-31%78%94%-6%72%-14%-49% 20% 7

Notes: Node size represents number of publications in the period Edge size represents number of co-authorships. Red nodes represent 15 NSECs. Gray nodes represent industry partners. Green lines represent co-authorships. Blue lines represent other types of collaborations. Source: Analysis based on list of industry partners provided by NSEC centers as of 2010 and publications in ISI-WoS database for period Co-authorships and collaborations ( ) 421 unique companies 360 co-authored publications 3. The NSEC network involves diverse types of interactions with companies 8

Separating co-authorship network from other interactions shows diversity Co-authorships ( ) Other collaborations ( ) 9 Other collaborations include e.g. beta-testing of prototypes and materials, exploration of new ideas, development of standards.

Main industry co-authors are a few U.S. and foreign large companies Notes: Node size represents number of publications in the period Edge size represents number of co-authorships. Red nodes represent 15 NSECs. Gray nodes represent industry partners. Green lines represent co-authorships. Blue lines represent other types of collaborations. Labels are shown only for NSEC centers (anonymized) and top-25 industry partners according to number of co-authored publications. Source: Analysis based on list of industry partners provided by NSEC centers as of 2010 and publications in ISI-WoS database for period The graph only shows NSEC centers and top-15 industry collaborators in publications ( )

4. Some companies use NSEC centers as a network 421 unique companies ( ) 146 have co-authored with NSEC centers 275 maintained other collaborations Companies use multiple NSEC centers 11

Implications for Center Policy (I)  Expectations for center-industry collaborations should go beyond the traditional ones oCommercialization oCapacity development through various types of connections (still, further assessment requires time)  A centers program may become a key R&D resource for industry oNSEC centers and industry become interdependent oCenters offer unique infrastructure possibilities for industry  Leverage of resources for shared new facilities  Design and testing of new unique instruments and experimental organizational arrangements  Source for new ideas 12

Implications for Center Policy (II)  The diversity of center-industry collaborations reflects centers’ activities oNSEC centers’ research involves both foundational and emerging topical areas which correlate with diverse forms of industry collaborations  Complementarities emerge from the integration of both publication co-authorships and other activities oA core industry sector relies on the NSEC program as a network of centers, from previous evidence of companies having their own R&D center oA wide-array of other companies, including both large and SMEs, also collaborate in various forms 13

Thank you!  Q&A  Contact data: Luciano Kay Postdoctoral Fellow School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology and Georgia Tech Program in Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy 14