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To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2006.05.008 Byline: Jong-Hak Eun (a), Keun Lee (b), Guisheng Wu (c) Keywords: University-run enterprise; University-industry relationship; China Abstract: This paper explains and evaluates the evolution of the UREs (University-run Enterprises) in China by building a new theoretical framework on the university-industry relationship. Unlike the Triple Helix or the New Economics of Science that advocates a certain type (integration or separation) of university-industry relationship, we take a contingent or context-specific perspective on the relationship, having the context of developing countries in mind. The framework developed in this paper explains in what condition universities would keep distance from industry or become entrepreneurial to take a part in the functions of industry (i.e. setting up and running their own business enterprises). In this typology the basic determinants are internal resources of university, absorptive capacity of industrial firms and existence of intermediary institutions, as well as the propensity of university for UREs. The paper has argued that the Chinese universities since the market-oriented reform had strong propensity to pursue economic gains and strong internal (R&D and other) resources to launch start-ups, and thus established their own firms (i.e. UREs), given the low absorptive capacity of industrial firms and the underdeveloped intermediary institutions. The recent adjustment of the UREs in China can also be understood in terms of changes in the above three factors, such as universities' weakened propensity to pursue economic gains, relative decline of superiority of university resources, and improved external environment. Author Affiliation: (a) Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, 300-4, Yomgok-Dong, Seocho-Gu, Seoul 137-747, Republic of Korea (b) Department of Economics, Seoul National University, Shinlim-Dong, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea (c) Department of Technology Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Haidian-Qu, Beijing 100084, China Article History: Received 29 September 2005; Revised 2 February 2006; Accepted 6 May 2006 Article Note: (footnote) [star] Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the Fifth Triple Helix conference (2005, Turin, Italy) and the Ninth International Convention of the East Asian Economic Association (2004, Hong Kong).

A study examines the role of Chinese universities in running business enterprises on their own. The universities relation with industries in promoting economic development is discussed.

Byline: Xibao Li, Guisheng Wu We empirically estimated the effect of three types of investment in acquiring technological knowledge (in-house R&D, importing foreign technology and purchasing domestic technology) on the innovation output of Chinese firms in four hi-tech industries. These investments on technology are assumed to generate different types of knowledge, which in turn contribute to the enhancement of the technology capability of firms. Based on a dataset constructed from a panel of 30 regions over the ten year period of 1995-2004, we estimated an aggregated patent production function with the region-industry combination as units of analysis. Our results show that investing in foreign technology alone does not facilitate the introduction of innovation, unless it is coupled with a firm's own in-house R&D effort. Domestic technology purchases also favourably influence innovation, suggesting that firms have little difficulty in absorbing domestic technological knowledge. The relative importance of the three types of technological knowledge differs across industries.