University Research Alliances, Absorptive Capacity, and the Contribution of Startups to Employment Growth

29 Pages Posted: 25 Nov 2014

See all articles by Andrew Toole

Andrew Toole

United States Patent and Trademark Office

Dirk Czarnitzki

KU Leuven - Department of Managerial Economics, Strategy, and Innovation; Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW)

Christian Rammer

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research - Industrial Economics and International Management Research

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: October 2014

Abstract

This paper examines how university research alliances and other cooperative links with universities contribute to startup employment growth. We argue that “scientific absorptive capacity” at the startup is critical for reaping the benefits from university research alliances, but not necessarily for other university connections. We also estimate the aggregate employment contribution from startup firms and attribute those employment gains to university research alliances and other university connections. We find significant contributions to employment growth from university research alliances and other university connections, but scientific absorptive capacity is critical for university research alliances. Only 7% of the startup population maintained a university research alliance, but among these firms, 3.4% of their total jobs created were attributable to their alliances. These results suggest university connections are quite important for job growth and university research alliances contributed substantially to job creation for those firms that had such alliances.

Keywords: Academic Entrepreneurship, Startups, Firm performance, Technology Transfer, University Spinoff Policy, Human Capital

JEL Classification: L25, L26, J24

Suggested Citation

Toole, Andrew A and Czarnitzki, Dirk and Rammer, Christian, University Research Alliances, Absorptive Capacity, and the Contribution of Startups to Employment Growth (October 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2530419 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2530419

Andrew A Toole (Contact Author)

United States Patent and Trademark Office ( email )

Alexandria
VA 22313-1451
United States

Dirk Czarnitzki

KU Leuven - Department of Managerial Economics, Strategy, and Innovation ( email )

Naamsestraat 69 bus 3500
Leuven, 3000
Belgium

Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
Mannheim, 68034
Germany

Christian Rammer

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research - Industrial Economics and International Management Research ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1 D-68161 Mannheim
Germany

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