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The internationalization of science and its influence on academic entrepreneurship

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Abstract

We examine whether scientists employed in foreign countries and foreign-educated native researchers are more “entrepreneurial” than their “domestic” counterparts. We conjecture that foreign-born and foreign-educated scientists possess broader scientific skills and social capital, which increases their likelihood that they will start their own companies. To test this hypothesis we analyze comprehensive data from researchers at the Max Planck Society in Germany. Our findings provide strong support for the conjecture that academic entrepreneurship can be stimulated by facilitating the mobility of scientists across countries.

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Notes

  1. These numbers include commercialization activity since 1979 when the technology transfer office of the Max Planck Society was installed. The numbers presented are officially reported by the Max Planck Society (see Max Planck Society 2009; Max Planck Innovation 2010).

  2. In 2007 and 2008 non-universities were excluded from the rankings of Times Higher Education.

  3. In order to avoid year to year fluctuations, the TEA index was computed as the average value for the years 2000–2007. Data on TEA are taken from the yearly GEM reports. Using yearly values and average values for different time periods does not change the results. For countries that are available in our sample but do not participate in the GEM, we use the average value for the respective geopolitical region they belong to for the years 2000–2004.

  4. Inconsistent answers e.g., reflect that a scientist holds a group leader or director position without holding a doctorate degree etc.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Economics, Economic Policy Research, University of Kassel, Nora-Platiel-Str. 5, 34127, Kassel, Germany

    Stefan Krabel

  2. School of Business, University at Albany, SUNY, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY, 12222, USA

    Donald S. Siegel

  3. Schools of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Carl-Zeiss Straße 3, 07743, Jena, Germany

    Viktor Slavtchev

Authors
  1. Stefan Krabel
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  2. Donald S. Siegel
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  3. Viktor Slavtchev
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Donald S. Siegel.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 4.

Table 4 Correlation matrix
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Krabel, S., Siegel, D.S. & Slavtchev, V. The internationalization of science and its influence on academic entrepreneurship. J Technol Transf 37, 192–212 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-010-9182-7

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