Albert N Link - Böcker

Government acts as entrepreneur when its involvement in market activities is both innovative and characterized by entrepreneurial risk. Thinking of government as entrepreneur is a unique lens through which we characterize in this book a specific subset of government policy actions. As such, our viewpoint underscores the purposeful intent of government, its ability to act in new and innovative ways, and its willingness to undertake policy actions that have uncertain outcomes. Viewing particular policy actions through an entrepreneurial lens could be useful in at least two broad dimensions. First, viewing particular government policy actions as entrepreneurial underscores the forward looking nature of policy makers as well as the need to evaluate the social outputs and outcomes of their behavior in terms of broad spillover impacts. Second, government acting as entrepreneur parallels in concept similar activities that occur in the private sector. The concept of government as entrepreneur is developed in this book using as a backdrop the intellectual history of the entrepreneur - what he/she does and why. The authors'' viewpoint is then illustrated using six specific U.S. public policy examples ranging from the Biomass Research and Development Initiative to the Small Business Innovation Research program.Government as Entrepreneur will serve as a vehicle for policy makers and scholars to think about entrepreneurship, or more specifically the entrepreneurial actors in an economy, in a new way.

This book presents a reader-friendly analysis and synthesis of the key economic and management approaches to innovation, entrepreneurship, and technological change. Link and Siegel provide precise definitions of key concepts, present numerous historical examples to illustrate these concepts, outline a framework for analyzing key topics, compare and contrast different theoretical frameworks, provide a reader-friendly interpretation of quantitative and qualitative findings, and emphasize international comparisons of innovation infrastructure and technology policy. Key topics covered include:· basic concepts of innovation and technological change,· a history of the role of the entrepreneur in innovation,· the impact of innovation and information technology on performance, · the analysis of technological spillovers, · innovation in the service sector, · university technology commercialization and entrepreneurship, including property-based institutions such as research parks and incubators, · entrepreneurship in the public sector,· the first systematic analysis and synthesis of the new interdisciplinary literature on technology commercialization and entrepreneurship at universities. While the book reflects the complexities of debate around these topics, it will be an important guide to the area for academics, graduate, and advanced undergraduate students of Business Studies, Economics, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation Studies. The book also provides a roadmap of specific recommendations for managers and policymakers.

This book presents a reader-friendly analysis and synthesis of the key approaches in economics and management approaches to innovation, entrepreneurship, and technological change. Link and Siegel provide precise definitions of key concepts, present numerous historical examples to illustrate these concepts, outline a framework for analyzing key topics, compare and contrast different theoretical frameworks, provide a reader-friendly interpretation of quantitative and qualitative findings, and emphasize international comparisons of innovation infrastructure and technology policy. Key topics covered include:· basic concepts of innovation and technological change,· a history of the role of the entrepreneur in innovation,· the impact of innovation and information technology on performance, · the analysis of technological spillovers, · innovation in the service sector, · university technology commercialization and entrepreneurship, including property-based institutions such as research parks and incubators, · entrepreneurship in the public sector,· the first systematic analysis and synthesis of the new interdisciplinary literature on technology commercialization and entrepreneurship at universities. While the book reflects the complexities of debate around these topics, it will be an important guide to the area for academics, graduate, and advanced undergraduate students of Business Studies, Economics, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation Studies. The book also provides a roadmap of specific recommendations for managers and policymakers.

Public sector entrepreneurship refers to innovative public policy initiatives that generate greater economic prosperity. These initiatives can transform a status quo economic environment into one that is more conducive to economic units engaging in creative and innovative activities in the face of uncertainty. Public Sector Entrepreneurship traces the historical development of the concepts of private and public sector entrepreneurship and their connection to the separate notions of risk and uncertainty. Based on a formal conceptualization of these notions, the book illustrates throughout public sector entrepreneurship in practice using examples from U.S. technology and innovation policy. Technology policy-policy to enhance the application of new knowledge, learned through science, to some known problem-and innovation policy-policy to enhance the commercialization of a technology-are quintessential examples of the public sector recognizing and exploiting opportunities to bring about change and efficiency. Using this concept of public sector entrepreneurship as the lens to view the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, the Stevenson-Wydler Act of 1980, the R&E Tax Credit of 1981, Small Business Innovation Development Act of 1982, the National Cooperative Research Act of 1984, and the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 affords us the ability to find elements of commonality among these policies and to discuss their impact on the U.S. economy from the perspective of entrepreneurial action.

In Public Goods, Public Gains, Link and Scott discuss the systematic application of alternative evaluation methods to estimate the social benefits of publicly-financed research and development (R&D). The authors argue that economic theory should be the guiding criterion for any method of program evaluation because it focuses attention on the value and the opportunity costs of the program.The evaluation methods discussed and illustrated are both economics and, for comparison, non-economics based. The book is motivated by four foundation chapters that discuss government's role in innovation from the perspective of economic theory, review public accountability issues from both a constitutional and an historical perspective, overview systematic approaches to program evaluation, and describe the evaluation metrics typically used. Four case studies illustrate the four alternative evaluation approached discussed. These case studies are for the U.S. Advanced Technology Program's intramural research awards program, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology's research on wavelength references for optical fiber communications, the U.S. Malcolm Balridge National Quality Award, and the Advanced Technology Program's focused program on the integration of manufacturing applications.

Entrepreneurs generally lack the marketing capabilities necessary to bring their new product to market. To engage the resources required to do this, they must somehow place a value on the enterprise. However, all of the methods of valuation currently available are based on the use of historical or current revenues, and therefore are not applicable to an entrepreneurial enterprise with a first-time product. In Valuing an Entrepreneurial Enterprise, Audretsch and Link present a valuation method uniquely tailored to emerging technology-based ventures that have no revenue history to lean on. Unlike many traditional methods, theirs does not take into account the track record of companies and products similar to that being valuated. Instead, it draws on economic theory to formulate a solution to the problem. The book develops conceptual ground, including trends in entrepreneurship, models of innovation, and the economics of standards and entrepreneurship policy. The authors review the traditional valuation methods and illustrate them numerically with case studies to show how the traditional approach produces an incorrect valuation. The core of the book presents the new methodology and demonstrates how it avoids the pitfalls of past approaches. The authors also show how public policy on technology and infrastructure changes valuations of start-up firms in areas such as stem-cell products and renewable fuels projects. Valuing an Entrepreneurial Enterprise will serve as a valuable resource for advanced students, economists, financial planners, and valuators interested in new valuation methods and the theory behind them, as well as those interested in entrepreneurship.

The local levels of economies have felt the impact of technological change and globalization. These forces have triggered the need to understand the dynamic mechanisms that enable locales to respond to such changes. For example, the downsizing of traditional employers because of a major loss in market share due to new competitors, acquisition by global firms, or off-shoring of production or services was traditionally thought to be beyond the scope of powers of local policy makers, thinkers, and business leaders. In the world of practice, those concerned about the economic performance of place-city, region or state-are increasingly focused on how to adapt to these trends and leverage their existing resources to respond to these global challenges as a positive opportunity. The Oxford Handbook of Local Competitiveness brings together some of the leading minds in the fields of business, economics, and the social sciences to identify, articulate, and analyze what influences and shapes local competitiveness and what places can do to enhance their economic performance. The contributors to the Handbook provide a body of systematic analyses suggesting that the local context is a critical element of the forces that shape competitiveness. The challenges to generate and sustain economic performance vary across places, and the factors and conditions that either enhance or impede competiveness also are place-specific. Finally, the characteristics and nature of what constitutes success also vary across places.This Handbook is essential reading material for academics in the fields of economics and public policy, as well as business leaders who hope to gain a more in-depth understanding of their field. Informative and intellectually rigorous, The Oxford Handbook of Local Competitiveness is the definitive volume of scholarly analysis regarding the relationship between place and economic competition.

As state support and federal research funding dwindle, universities are increasingly viewing their intellectual property portfolios as lucrative sources of potential revenue. Nearly all research universities now have a technology transfer office to manage their intellectual property, but many are struggling to navigate this new world of university-industry partnerships. Given the substantial investment in academic research and millions of dollars potentially at stake, identifying best practices in university technology transfer and academic entrepreneurship is of paramount importance. The Chicago Handbook of University Technology Transfer and Academic Entrepreneurship is the first definitive source to synthesize state-of-the-art research in this arena. Edited by three of the foremost experts in the field, the handbook presents evidence from entrepreneurs, administrators, regulators, and professors in numerous disciplines.Together they address the key managerial and policy implications through chapters on how to sustain successful research ventures, stimulate academic entrepreneurship, maintain effective open innovation strategies, and improve the performance of university technology transfer offices.

This volume brings together eminent international scholars to discuss and analyze regional and national technology and innovation policies from an economic assessment or economic impacts perspective. The analysis covers policies relevant to countries in Europe and Asia, and the United States.Not only might this volume initiate further study of technology and innovation policies, on a country-by-country basis, but also it might open doors for comparative policy analysis. This book was originally published as a special issue of Economics of Innovation and New Technology.

In order to understand collaborative research activity in the United States, it is important to understand the contextual environment in which firms pursue a collaborative research strategy. The U.S. environment for formal collaborative research was established through a number of policy initiatives promulgated in the 1980s in response to the widespread productivity slowdown throughout industry that began in the early 1970s and then intensified in the late 1970s and early 1980s. These initiatives include the Bayh–Dole Act of 1980, the Stevenson–Wydler Act of 1980 and its amendments, the National Cooperative Research Act of 1984 and its amendments, and the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986.Collaborative Research in the United States offers a critical and retrospective description of collaborative research activity in the United States in an effort to provide a prospective framework for policymakers to evaluate future policy initiatives to encourage such strategic behavior. The analysis that underlies the policy framework draws from the performance of U.S. firms’ experiences, presenting a quantitative foundation for recommendations about future policy initiatives. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, policymakers, and students in the fields of critical management studies, strategic management, economics, and public policy.

This volume brings together eminent international scholars to discuss and analyze regional and national technology and innovation policies from an economic assessment or economic impacts perspective. The analysis covers policies relevant to countries in Europe and Asia, and the United States.Not only might this volume initiate further study of technology and innovation policies, on a country-by-country basis, but also it might open doors for comparative policy analysis. This book was originally published as a special issue of Economics of Innovation and New Technology.

Edwin Mansfield was a research pioneer into the economics of R and D and technological change. As appreciation and remembrance for his scholarly contributions, eminent scholars have contributed original papers for this edited volume. The authors have followed the "Mansfieldian” approach of emphasizing economic insight and intuition over mathematical rigor and as a result are very accessable. Essays in Honor of Edwin Mansfield has the potential to serve as a reader in all advanced undergraduate and graduate classes/seminars in the economics of R and D and technological change. This edited volume will be the definitive work in the field.

Research and development (R and D) leads to innovation, and innovation leads to technological change. Technological change, in turn, is the primary driver of economic growth. Public/private partnerships -- cooperative relationships among industry, government, and/or universities -- leverage the efficiency of R and D and are thus a critical aspect of a nation's innovation system. This text is intended for upper-level undergraduate and MBA courses such as Economics and Technology, Economics of Innovation, and Economics of Science and Technology, among others. The first chapter introduces the concept of public/private research partnerships along with other concepts fundamental to an understanding of innovation and technology policy. The framework chapters (2-5) set forth an argument for the public's role -- government's role -- in innovation in general and in public/private partnership in particular. The remaining chapters (6-14) describe a number of public/private partnerships and, to the extent possible, evaluate their social impact.

The impact of technological change on the wider economy, especially its impact on economic growth, has been one of the key themes in the transition from the industrial age to the information age.

This useful new book reviews the literature on technology and economic growth covering historical and theoretical developments such as:*new models for measuring productivity*sources of technical knowledge and technological spillovers*stock market reactions to investment in technologySuch a comprehensive survey is likely to be welcomed by students and academics involved in business economics, strategy and technology, as well as being extremely useful for public sector employees concerned with science and technology policy and planning, and private sector employees in research and development.

Using a cutting-edge structure, where a current description of the service sector and up-to-date case studies are compared and contrasted with innovative activity in manufacturing, this book contributes towards a better theoretical understanding of innovation in the U.S. service sector.The U.S. service sector is the largest sector in the U.S. economy and accounts for an increasingly significant share of U.S. gross domestic product, currently 68 percent. Both in the United States, as well as in other industrialized nations, the service sector is a dynamic component of economic activity and growth. As pervasive and economically important as the service sector is, innovative activity in service-sector firms remains somewhat of an enigma; it is not well understood and not well defined because it differs dramatically from the traditional model of innovation in manufacturing. Innovation in the U.S. Service Sector fills this void, placing emphasis on the United States, but with global relevance. It is essential reading for all students of business and management, economics and political science.

Technology infrastructure supports the design, deployment and use of both individual technology-based components and the systems of such components that form the knowledge-based economy. As such, it plays a central role in the innovation process and in the promotion of the diffusion of technologies. Thus, it is an important element contributing to the operation of innovation systems and innovation performance in any modern economy.Technology infrastructure, either in the narrow or broad sense, is not well understood as an element of a sector’s technology platform or of a national innovation system. Similarly misunderstood are the processes by which such infrastructure is embodied in standards or diffused through various institutional frameworks. In fact, because of the public and quasi-public good nature of technology infrastructure, firms as well as public-sector agencies under invest in it, thus inhibiting long-term technological advancement and economic growth. This volume of essays brings together a collection of papers from eminent scholars on all of the various dimensions of technology infrastructure mentioned above. To our knowledge, it is the first such collection of papers and we expect this scholarship to become the foundation for future research in this area.This book was published as a special issue of Economics of Innovation and New Technology.

This book establishes a chronological trace of the entrepreneur as treated in economic literature in order to give a more wholesome perspective to contemporary writings and teachings on entrepreneurship. It focuses on the nature and role of the entrepreneur, and of entrepreneurship, as revealed in economic literature as early as the eighteenth century, when Richard Cantillon first coined the term 'entrepreneur'. The authors then trace how Joseph Schumpeter's perspective, among other’s, on entrepreneurship came to dominate the world's understanding of the term.Due to Schumpeter’s dominant influence, entrepreneurship has come to occupy a primary role in the theory of economic development. In this book Hébert and Link discuss various key topics including the German Tradition, the Austrian and the English School of thought as well as individuals such as Alfred Marshall and Jeremy Bentham. The historical survey also illustrates the tension that often exists between "theory" and "practice" and how it has been difficult for economic theory to assimilate a core concept that plays a vital role in social and economic change. Finally, the book exposes the many different facets of entrepreneurship as they have been perceived by some of the great economists throughout the ages.

This book establishes a chronological trace of the entrepreneur as treated in economic literature in order to give a more wholesome perspective to contemporary writings and teachings on entrepreneurship. It focuses on the nature and role of the entrepreneur, and of entrepreneurship, as revealed in economic literature as early as the eighteenth century, when Richard Cantillon first coined the term 'entrepreneur'. The authors then trace how Joseph Schumpeter's perspective, among other’s, on entrepreneurship came to dominate the world's understanding of the term.Due to Schumpeter’s dominant influence, entrepreneurship has come to occupy a primary role in the theory of economic development. In this book Hébert and Link discuss various key topics including the German Tradition, the Austrian and the English School of thought as well as individuals such as Alfred Marshall and Jeremy Bentham. The historical survey also illustrates the tension that often exists between "theory" and "practice" and how it has been difficult for economic theory to assimilate a core concept that plays a vital role in social and economic change. Finally, the book exposes the many different facets of entrepreneurship as they have been perceived by some of the great economists throughout the ages.

Technology infrastructure supports the design, deployment and use of both individual technology-based components and the systems of such components that form the knowledge-based economy. As such, it plays a central role in the innovation process and in the promotion of the diffusion of technologies. Thus, it is an important element contributing to the operation of innovation systems and innovation performance in any modern economy.Technology infrastructure, either in the narrow or broad sense, is not well understood as an element of a sector’s technology platform or of a national innovation system. Similarly misunderstood are the processes by which such infrastructure is embodied in standards or diffused through various institutional frameworks. In fact, because of the public and quasi-public good nature of technology infrastructure, firms as well as public-sector agencies under invest in it, thus inhibiting long-term technological advancement and economic growth. This volume of essays brings together a collection of papers from eminent scholars on all of the various dimensions of technology infrastructure mentioned above. To our knowledge, it is the first such collection of papers and we expect this scholarship to become the foundation for future research in this area.This book was published as a special issue of Economics of Innovation and New Technology.

Scholars in the science and technology field have not collectively questioned, much less proposed, an agenda for policy makers. Now is an appropriate time for such an undertaking. First, there is a growing belief that the U.S. national research and development system, like that of many industrial nations, is changing due to global competitive pressures and advancements in information technology and electronic commerce. Second, industry's R&D relationship with the academic research community is changing not only because of the global competition but also because of alterations in the level of government support of fundamental research. As a result, policy makers will need to rethink their approaches to science and technology issues. This volume is a collection of essays by scholars about innovative policy in the knowledge-based economy. By knowledge-based economy we mean one for which economic growth is based on the creation, distribution, and use of technology. As such, innovation policy in such an economy must enhance the creation, distribution, and use of knowledge that leads to the creation, distribution, and use of technology.This volume considers elements of an innovation policy: innovation policy and academic research, innovation policy in electronic commerce, and innovation policy and globalization issues.

This volume presents guidelines for evaluating the research performance of technology-based public institutions, and illustrates these guidelines through case studies conducted at one technology-based public institution, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The aim of this book is to demonstrate that a clear, more precise response to the question of performance accountability is possible through the systematic application of evaluation methods to document value. The authors begin with a review of the legislative history of fiscal accountability beginning with the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, and ending with the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993. A discussion of existing applicable economic models, methods, and associated metrics follows. The book concludes with evaluation case studies.

Inadequate investment in innovation is particularly costly in today's globally competitive environment where continued technological advancements are critical to sustaining economic prosperity. The government has a critical role in ensuring that society's general interest in innovation, and the public good associated with innovation, is represented in private-sector decision making. This can be accomplished through a variety of programmes and initiatives that reward innovation at all levels. The various activities that make this possible fall into two general categories: (1) the creation and maintenance of a legal environment that encourages private sector investment in innovation (patents and the relaxation of antitrust); and (2) the provision of incentives to overcome the natural inclination of private parties to consider only their private benefits when choosing the level of innovation in which to invest (governmental grants and contracts to targeted tax incentives).The role of government, more specifically, can be found in three key areas: funding of research and development performed in the private section; funding of federal laboratory research activities and the effective transfer of that knowledge to the private sector; and encouraging the industry - university collaboration in research and development. It is these three areas of research that generate technologies fundamental to increasing the rate of technological development in the private sector, and it is these three areas that are the focus of this book.

Escalating energy demand may be the most important issue facing the United States and the world today. There is little disagreement that research and development (R&D) is needed to develop new energy technologies for the future; however, there is less agreement over the specific research agenda to be pursued and how that agenda is funded. This book addresses the social importance of new energy technologies, illustrates policy-relevant applications of evaluation techniques and proposes new perspectives for a US energy investment strategy. Through detailed examples related to solar, geothermal, and vehicle technologies, the authors outline the need for robust evaluation methods to document social returns to taxpayers' R&D investments. They argue that such evaluations are necessary for the public sector to make rational decisions about the allocation of its scares resources. The evaluation methods considered involve developing alternative technology and market pathways from which the benefits of government research can be measured. Researchers and graduate students, policy makers involved in energy technology, and energy R&D program managers will all find much of value in this important and timely book.

There has been a dramatic increase in expenditures on public goods over the past thirty years, particularly in the area of research and development. As governments explore the many opportunities for growth in this area, they - and the general public - are becoming increasingly concerned with the transparency, accountability and performance of public programs. This pioneering Handbook offers a collection of critical essays on the theory and practice of program evaluation, written by some of the most well-known experts in the field.As this volume demonstrates, a wide variety of methodologies exists to evaluate particularly the objectives and outcomes of research and development programs. These include surveys, statistical and econometric estimations, patent analyses, bibliometrics, scientometrics, network analyses, case studies, and historical tracings. Contributors divide these and other methods and applications into four categories - economic, non-economic, hybrid and data-driven - in order to discuss the many factors that affect the utility of each technique and how that impacts the technological, economic and societal forecasts of the programs in question.Scholars, practitioners and students with an interest in economics and innovation will all find this Handbook an invaluable resource.Contributors include: S. Arvanitis, B. Bozeman, S. Casault, S.E. Casey, I. Feller, M.P. Gallaher, D.O. Gray, A.J. Groen, D. Hicks, J.E. Jankowski, G.B. Jordan, G. Kingsley, A.N. Link, J.D. Linton, R.J. Loomis, J. Melkers, A.C. O Connor, D. Rivers, R. Ruegg, J.T. Scott, P. Thomas, N.S. Vonortas

This research collection illustrates the wide range of methodologies and methods available for the evaluation of public programs. All these methods address the benefits of the programs and most compare the benefits to costs, but the types of benefits and their measures vary greatly across the studies and across the different types of public programs. The key articles presented here explore these different approaches and offer many examples of actual evaluations of public programs across different public policy settings. Professor Link and Professor Scott have provided an authoritative original introduction, which elucidates this diversity of approaches and settings and challenges scholars to contemplate an evaluation in terms of its theoretical foundation.

We must all hang together or surely we will all hang separately. Benjamin Franklin The significant apathy that characterized relationships between indus­ try and universities and the adversarial nature of relationships between industry and government have both faded rapidly in the 1980s as the realities of global competition have surfaced in the United States. Both industry and government leaders articulate a number of constructs for regaining our competitiveness in world markets. One of the more fre­ quent strategies prescribed in this new competitiveness era is cooperation. Different individuals or groups may espouse different definitions, inter­ pretations, or areas of emphasis, but the overall importance of this concept is substantial. Although examples of cooperative research have existed for several decades, the number and variety of relationships have expanded rapidly in the 1980s as corporations, universities, and governments have embraced this strategy. Joint ventures involving two or three firms increased from under 200 per year in the 1970s to over 400 per year by the mid-1980s. Multiple-firm cooperative arrangements are a more recent phenomenon, made possible by the National Cooperative Research Act of 1984. By mid- 1988,81 of these industry-level consortia had formed under the provisions of the 1984 Act. The rapid growth in cooperative research and development (R&D) is primarily a response to the pressures of international competition. As a corporate strategy, cooperative R&D meets short-term needs for assets to implement new approaches for coping with intensifying competition.

Metrology is the study of measurement science. Although classical economists have emphasized the importance of measurement per se, the majority of economics-based writings on the topic have taken the form of government reports related to the activities of specific national metrology laboratories. This book is the first systematic study of measurement activity at a national metrology laboratory, and the laboratory studied is the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) within the U.S. Department of Commerce.The primary objective of the book is to emphasize for academic and policy audiences the economic importance of measurement not only as an area of study but also as a tool for sustaining technological advancement as an element of economic growth. Toward this goal, the book offers an overview of the economic benefits and consequences of measurement standards; an argument for public sector support of measurement standards; a historical perspective of the measurement activities at NIST; an empirical analysis of one particular measurement activity at NIST, namely calibration testing; and a roadmap for future research on the economics of metrology.

Metrology is the study of measurement science. Although classical economists have emphasized the importance of measurement per se, the majority of economics-based writings on the topic have taken the form of government reports related to the activities of specific national metrology laboratories. This book is the first systematic study of measurement activity at a national metrology laboratory, and the laboratory studied is the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) within the U.S. Department of Commerce.The primary objective of the book is to emphasize for academic and policy audiences the economic importance of measurement not only as an area of study but also as a tool for sustaining technological advancement as an element of economic growth. Toward this goal, the book offers an overview of the economic benefits and consequences of measurement standards; an argument for public sector support of measurement standards; a historical perspective of the measurement activities at NIST; an empirical analysis of one particular measurement activity at NIST, namely calibration testing; and a roadmap for future research on the economics of metrology.