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The third mission stalled? Universities in China’s technological progress

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  • Weiping Wu
  • Yu Zhou

Abstract

This paper outlines China’s progress in developing endogenous capacity for knowledge diffusion and commercialization in the higher education sector. Despite a promising start in the 1980s and early 1990s, academic technology transfer has not kept pace with rapid growth of the country’s overall technological endeavors. But there is evidence of institutional evolution in that university-industry linkages are moving from more hierarchical and rigid forms established under the centrally planned economy into more flexible and market-based arrangements. After probing what underscores the stalling of universities’ new found mission, the paper offers layered policy suggestions on what can be done to overcome the conundrum. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Weiping Wu & Yu Zhou, 2012. "The third mission stalled? Universities in China’s technological progress," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 37(6), pages 812-827, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jtecht:v:37:y:2012:i:6:p:812-827
    DOI: 10.1007/s10961-011-9233-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Yu Zhou, 2005. "The Making of an Innovative Region from a Centrally Planned Economy: Institutional Evolution in Zhongguancun Science Park in Beijing," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 37(6), pages 1113-1134, June.
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    4. Weiping Wu, 2010. "Managing and incentivizing research commercialization in Chinese Universities," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 203-224, April.
    5. Yu Zhou & Yifei Sun & Y. H. Dennis Wei & George C. S. Lin, 2011. "De-centering 'spatial fix'--patterns of territorialization and regional technological dynamism of ICT hubs in China," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 119-150, January.
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    7. Wu, Weiping, 2007. "Cultivating Research Universities and Industrial Linkages in China: The Case of Shanghai," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1075-1093, June.
    8. Liefner, Ingo & Schiller, Daniel, 2008. "Academic capabilities in developing countries--A conceptual framework with empirical illustrations from Thailand," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 276-293, March.
    9. Albert N. Link, 2007. "Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Technological Change," Technical Reports 070716, Brandmeyer Center for Applied Economics, School of Business, University of Kansas.
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    11. Joanna Poyago-Theotoky & John Beath & Donald S. Siegel, 2002. "Universities and Fundamental Research: Reflections on the Growth of University--Industry Partnerships," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 18(1), pages 10-21, Spring.
    12. Hershberg, Eric & Nabeshima, Kaoru & Yusuf, Shahid, 2007. "Opening the Ivory Tower to Business: University-Industry Linkages and the Development of Knowledge-Intensive Clusters in Asian Cities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 931-940, June.
    13. Rory O’Shea & Harveen Chugh & Thomas Allen, 2008. "Determinants and consequences of university spinoff activity: a conceptual framework," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 33(6), pages 653-666, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Aihua Chen & Donald Patton & Martin Kenney, 2016. "University technology transfer in China: a literature review and taxonomy," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 41(5), pages 891-929, October.
    2. Zhiyan Zhao & Anders Broström & Jianfeng Cai, 2020. "Promoting academic engagement: university context and individual characteristics," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 304-337, February.
    3. Yonghua Zou & Wanxia Zhao, 2014. "Anatomy of Tsinghua University Science Park in China: institutional evolution and assessment," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 39(5), pages 663-674, October.
    4. Wang, Wenjing & Lu, Shan, 2021. "University-industry innovation community dynamics and knowledge transfer: Evidence from China," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    5. Christian Fisch & Tobias Hassel & Philipp Sandner & Joern Block, 2015. "University patenting: a comparison of 300 leading universities worldwide," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 318-345, April.
    6. Yuandi Wang & Jiashun Huang & Yantai Chen & Xiongfeng Pan & Jin Chen, 2013. "Have Chinese universities embraced their third mission? New insight from a business perspective," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 97(2), pages 207-222, November.
    7. Boeing, Philipp & Mueller, Elisabeth & Sandner, Philipp, 2016. "China's R&D explosion—Analyzing productivity effects across ownership types and over time," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 159-176.
    8. Lachang Lyu & Weiping Wu & Haipeng Hu & Ru Huang, 2019. "An evolving regional innovation network: collaboration among industry, university, and research institution in China’s first technology hub," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 659-680, June.
    9. Gao, Yuchen & Hu, Yimei & Liu, Xielin & Zhang, Huanren, 2021. "Can public R&D subsidy facilitate firms’ exploratory innovation? The heterogeneous effects between central and local subsidy programs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(4).
    10. Yutao Sun & Chen Zhang & Robert A. W. Kok, 2020. "The role of research outcome quality in the relationship between university research collaboration and technology transfer: empirical results from China," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(2), pages 1003-1026, February.
    11. Ingo Liefner & Sabine Jessberger, 2016. "The use of the analytical hierarchy process as a method of comparing innovation across regions: The examples of the equipment manufacturing industries of Shanghai and Xiamen, China," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(6), pages 1188-1208, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    University-industry linkages (UILs); Technology transfer; R&D; Innovation; Higher education reform; China; O33 I23;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions

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