Exploitation of public sector R&D and the open invitation paradigm: Governance of knowledge transfer within public research organisations (PROs)

Ghorbankhani, Maryam (2023) Exploitation of public sector R&D and the open invitation paradigm: Governance of knowledge transfer within public research organisations (PROs). PhD thesis, Birkbeck, University of London.

Abstract

In the current challenging business environment, where firms need to rapidly seize new technological and business opportunities in order to stay competitive, public sector research and development (henceforth: R&D) can provide an important source of frontier knowledge. The determinants, effects and impacts of firms’ use of public R&D have been studied in the context of firms’ collaborations with universities, while the role of public research organisations (henceforth: PROs) in knowledge transfer (henceforth: KT) remains under-researched. In light of the efforts of governments and PROs to seek new strategies and approaches to boost the effectiveness of their R&D, and in light of the increasingly ‘open’ nature of innovation processes, PROs’ engagement in KT with businesses and other external partners is encouraged. This doctoral thesis aims to investigate what organisational approaches and managerial practices PROs use in order to engage in the transfer of their knowledge and R&D outcomes, including the commercial exploitation of their research output. Particularly, this doctoral thesis intends to fill this important research gap by investigating three key research questions: (i) How do PROs organise their KT activities? in particular, what factors are associated with different ways to organise their KT management functions? (ii) What managerial practices are associated with PROs’ KT activities within the open innovation paradigm? (iii) How well do PROs’ performance measurements reflect the specificities of their heterogeneous missions and KT engagement? This thesis is structured using a three-paper format, with each question being addressed in a different paper; the three papers constitute chapters 3, 4 and 5 of the thesis. The thesis also includes an Introduction (chapter 1), a chapter setting out the context of PROs in the UK (chapter 2) and a conclusion chapter (chapter 6).

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