Societal impact of university innovation

摘要

Purpose - This study aims to use university patent and regional economic data to investigate the current and future impact of university innovation, measured using multiple variables, on real economic productivity. Design/methodology/approach - Using university patent and regional economic data, regression models are built to determine the impact of university innovation on current and future regional economic performance. Findings - The findings demonstrate that university innovation generates sustained impact on economic performance, but by itself, is insufficient in driving economic performance; and different measures of university innovation have different degrees of impact. University innovation makes up a small, albeit significant, proportion of the drivers of economic performance. Research limitations/implications - There are four implications. First, developing countries can leverage university-industry collaborations for economic growth. Second, innovation management must encourage continuous university innovation for sustainable economic productivity. Third, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and non-STEM innovation warrant attention. Fourth, successful innovation policies should be tailored to their unique societal contexts. Originality/value - Although innovation is a driver of economic performance, there is a lack of studies that focus specifically on universities, operationalize performance using gross domestic product measures and take into account impact lags by exploring universities' current and future impacts.