Assessing the different types of policy instruments and policy mix for commercialisation of university technologies

ABSTRACT

Assessing the effectiveness of different types of policy instruments (Direct Funding Support, National Technology Transfer Demonstration Institutions, and University Science Parks) and their mix on commercialisation performance of universities’ technologies is an important but unsolved issue. Using province-level data from 2009–2016, we conduct such empirical research and assess their effectiveness. The results show that different policy instruments have different effects on commercialisation performance, and there are significant synergies between Direct Funding Support and other two policy instruments. Taking account of regional heterogeneity, this study finds that policy mixes are implemented better in regions with high innovation capacity. These findings, in turn, have notable implications for policymakers and university researchers who aim to commercialise their technologies.

KEYWORDS:

• Commercialisation
• university technology
• policy instruments
• policy mix

Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 71572188] and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [grant numbers JZ2020HGTA0070 & JZ2020HGQA0182].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 71572188] and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [grant numbers JZ2020HGTA0070 & JZ2020HGQA0182].

Notes on contributors

QingQiu Gan

QingQiu Gan ([email protected]) is a Ph.D. student in the School of Management, University of Science & Technology of China and Department of Information System, City University of Hong Kong. Her research interests are in technology commercialisation and blockchain.

Jin Hong

Jin Hong ([email protected]) is currently a full professor of School of Economics, Hefei University of Technology. He mainly focuses on innovation and entrepreneurship management, organisational behaviour and human resources management, and regional sustainable development.

BoJun Hou

BoJun Hou ([email protected]) is currently a lecturer of School of Economics, Hefei University of Technology. His research interests are university technology transfer, leadership organisational innovation and creativity management