Commercialisation of University Research: An Investigation of Researchers’ Behaviour

摘要

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have been identified as one of the key factors for the growth and development of a nation. This is reflected in the vast amount of investment of public funds into research activities among the HEIs by the Malaysia government. Such a move is embraced by both developed and developing nations in the hopes of reaping the benefits in terms of the enrichment of knowledge, development of expertise and human capital and more tangibly in terms of the intellectual properties (IPs) produced by the research activities. Often the IPs would have commercial potential and there are numerous avenues for commercialising such IPs. However, often only small percentages of the R&D output do get commercialised; most are treated as just another academic exercise. Thus, the challenge is driving the researchers in the HEIs to ensure R&D doesn’t end with publication of findings only, but it flows continuously into C — commercialisation, which includes the creation of university spin-out (USO). This study investigates the researchers’ behaviour in terms of conducting research, exploiting the results and ultimately commercialising their innovations.