TY - JOUR
T1 - The limits of academic entrepreneurship
T2 - Conflicting expectations about commercialization and innovation in China's nascent sector for advanced bio-energy technologies
AU - Gosens, Jorrit
AU - Hellsmark, Hans
AU - Kåberger, Tomas
AU - Liu, Li
AU - Sandén, Björn A.
AU - Wang, Shurong
AU - Zhao, Lei
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s)
PY - 2018/3
Y1 - 2018/3
N2 - Despite many years of substantial government research funding, advanced bio-energy technologies in China have seen limited commercial application. Chinese policy makers are increasingly critical of academic organizations for neglecting their role in the transfer of scientific results into industrial applications. We interviewed a selection of Chinese research groups working on bio-energy technologies, and asked them to describe their efforts at commercialization. We found that they focus their research on technological pathways with commercial potential, they patent and attempt to license their technologies, they are highly involved in large scale demonstration plants, and have created a number of new firms. Industry and government may have unrealistic expectations on the maturity and scale of technologies that academia can develop, however. These findings contrast with many earlier analyses of early commercialization stages of novel technologies, which have commonly identified lacking academic entrepreneurship as a root cause in stalling development.
AB - Despite many years of substantial government research funding, advanced bio-energy technologies in China have seen limited commercial application. Chinese policy makers are increasingly critical of academic organizations for neglecting their role in the transfer of scientific results into industrial applications. We interviewed a selection of Chinese research groups working on bio-energy technologies, and asked them to describe their efforts at commercialization. We found that they focus their research on technological pathways with commercial potential, they patent and attempt to license their technologies, they are highly involved in large scale demonstration plants, and have created a number of new firms. Industry and government may have unrealistic expectations on the maturity and scale of technologies that academia can develop, however. These findings contrast with many earlier analyses of early commercialization stages of novel technologies, which have commonly identified lacking academic entrepreneurship as a root cause in stalling development.
KW - Academic entrepreneurship
KW - Bioenergy
KW - China
KW - Technology transfer and commercialization
KW - Third mission
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85029505259&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.erss.2017.09.014
DO - 10.1016/j.erss.2017.09.014
M3 - Article
SN - 2214-6296
VL - 37
SP - 1
EP - 11
JO - Energy Research and Social Science
JF - Energy Research and Social Science
ER -