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Receiving information at Korean and Taiwanese universities, industry, and GRIs

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Abstract

This article examines the incentive structure underlying information transfers received by the three key players of the Triple Helix paradigm: universities, industry, and government research institutes (GRIs). For Korea and Taiwan, which are the cases under analysis here, such an empirical examination has not yet been conducted on a quantitative level. Using a unique dataset of survey responses from a maximum of 325 researchers based in Korean and Taiwanese universities, industry, and GRIs, this article shows that there are some significant differences between and within countries. Most importantly, policy interventions to promote university-industry-GRI interactions impact the degree to which specific information transfers are considered useful. In Korea, formal transfers are emphasized, while both formal and, in particular, informal transfers are emphasized in Taiwan.

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Notes

  1. This was proposed originally by Dasgupta and Maskin (1987).

  2. SEMATECH targeted the increased competitiveness of US chip manufacturers, and the hands-off approach of the government enables SEMATECH participants to effectively manage the R&D consortia. PNGV was designed to improve national competitiveness in manufacturing through innovations which would achieve three times the fuel efficiency of 1994 family sedans (Roos et al. 1998).

  3. Now the Lean Aerospace Initiative.

  4. Evans (1998) actually outlines three models. The entrepreneurial function of the second model embodies the investment concerns of the third model, we believe.

  5. For example, unlike the Korean case, Taiwan’s economic plans in the past have no implementation procedures, are not supported by controls, and lack credibility (Hamilton and Biggart 1988). As well, others subscribe to the view that Korea is “interventionist” while Taiwan is “supportive” (Park 1990). Specifically, there is evidence in Korea of domestic market protection and industrial targeting; in Taiwan, medium-term economic plans limit policymakers authority to allocate credit (Park 1990).

  6. See Shapiro (2007) for historical accounts.

  7. The ATP, incidentally, is the basis for several of the research funding programs in Korea and Taiwan from which the unique dataset of this paper is drawn.

  8. Knowledge spillovers occur through reverse engineering or through the reading of other’s findings in published form, and full compensation is not awarded to the original source of such information. Market spillovers benefit the customer when the same price is paid for products of higher quality, which are the result of product innovations. As well, process innovations can lead to decreased production costs which result in lower prices, again benefiting the consumer. Network spillovers are exemplified by the successful coordination between research entities to create a new technology.

  9. These studies, again, are minimized to the uni-directional transfer of information from the university to the firm.

  10. This dataset was collected in the winter and spring of 2005–2006, following field research and interviews by the author with public and private research directors in Korea (summer 2005) and Taiwan (winter 2005).

  11. Another source of funding are the increasingly popular university-based and GRI-based incubation centers. Despite their phenomena-like status, these SMEs and start-ups were not targeted in the survey for fear that they were not necessarily engaging in cross-sector R&D collaboration or lacked sufficient expertise.

  12. Cited from www.oecd.org/dataoecd/30/60/34242958.pdf.

  13. Cheng et al. (1998) list the following coordinating mechanisms: U.S. aid, the strong central bank, and a number of organizing structures and bodies peripheral but connected to the government.

  14. The questionnaire was distributed and collected by the author, ministry-level officials, GRI-based directors, and government agency officials.

  15. This is, again, tied to limits of the available information.

  16. When firms are large enough, they will often possess the infrastructure and capabilities to engage in basic R&D, but these large enterprises are not considered samples in the dataset, and there will be no discussion of their impact and influence.

  17. The rectangular boxes in each figure represent those responses between the twenty-fifth percentile (lower hinge) and the seventy-fifth percentile (upper hinge). The median is found directly in the middle of the box. Lines (or “whiskers”) extending from the box are capped with adjacent values, beyond which are outside values, represented by small circles. Adjacent values are calculated by multiplying the interquartile range (the difference between the first and third quartile values) by 1.5, and adding or subtracting it from the upper or lower hinges, respectively.

  18. A Taiwan (i.e., country) dummy was used. Additional details about right-hand side variables in this preliminary test of country differences include the following: sector dummies were included, and a three-level categorical variable was included to test for differences across universities, industry, and GRIs.

  19. The model on which these measures are based includes UIG, country, and research sector dummies. Coefficients and/or marginal effects for these are not included in Tables 4 and 5.

  20. The model on which these measures are based includes UIG, country, and research sector dummies. Coefficients and/or marginal effects for these are not included in Table 6.

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Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank Jeffrey Nugent, Jang-Jae Lee, Jung-Jae Lee, and Chintay Shih. Special thanks go out to Ki-Sik Park and Sang Sub Cho of ETRI’s IT Strategy Research Group and Hubert Chen and Jian Hung Chen of ITRI’s Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center.

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Correspondence to Matthew A. Shapiro.

Appendix

Appendix

Information transfers construct:

[On questionnaires for respondents at GRIs and universities] To what extent does useful information move from private firms to your institute?

[On questionnaires for respondents at private firms] To what extent does useful information move from public institutes to your firm?

Please answer for the following methods.

(1 = no movement at all; 7 = a lot of movement)

Patents

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Publications

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Meetings or conferences

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Hires

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Contract research

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Consulting

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

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Shapiro, M.A. Receiving information at Korean and Taiwanese universities, industry, and GRIs. Scientometrics 90, 289–309 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-011-0501-z

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