Search

Patenting activities and technology commercialization in nanotechnology are being increasingly driven by international collaboration. These collaborative arrangements are often based on patents' portfolio complementarities requiring managerial capabilities in terms of searching for external partners and assessing the patents portfolio. To support technology transfer within or across countries, this study examines a sample of 28,895 patents filed in carbon nanotubes to assess key players, their technology domains and which commercialization strategies Italy-based organizations may deploy since the dominant position of Chinese organizations. Our findings show that significant linkages of the Italian nanotech system appear as being highly centralized around key players within their own cluster. Overall, the results suggest that strengthening the linkages between scientific and corporate actors may eliminate many barriers and accelerate nanotech commercialization by rethinking teaching and training programs for young researchers. Implications for policy-makers are also highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to investigate university-firm relationships in terms of knowledge creation and transfer. The paper shows how the firms' absorptive capacity influences universities' research agenda. Focusing on two specific contexts: nanotechnologies (carbon nanotubes) and Chinese universities patenting activity the study show the relevance of absorptive capacity, measured in terms of S&T public expenditures, in determining universities research priorities. Structured panel data enlists the patent activity of 86 Chinese universities (universities with more then 10 registered patents) related to carbon nanotubes field since 2000 to present. We found that public expenditures in S&T, increasing firms' absorptive capacity, push up the number of patent registered and influence universities research priorities. Some peculiarities have emerged in the analysis thanks to some result in countertendency with the cited literature. Data on renewal suggest some form of informal or tacit technology transfer strategy between academia and market, and the countertendency in data on claims demonstrate the demand-pull inclination of university research. Implications and limitations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]