HIGHER EDUCATION IN HIGH-TECH INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
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TABLE 10. Academic Research and Development Financed by Industry, Selected OECD Countries, China, and Russian Federation, Selected Years, 1981–2006 (percent)
Year
France Germany Japan
Korea, Rep.
United Kingdom
United States
All OECD
China
Russian Federation
1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
1.3 2.0 4.2 3.2 3.1 2.9 2.7 2.7 —
1.8 5.8 7.0 9.2 12.2 11.8 12.6 13.2 —
1.0 1.7 2.4 2.4 2.3 2.8 2.9 2.8 —
— — — 50.5 14.3 13.9 13.6 15.9 15.2
2.8 5.7 7.8 6.7 6.2 5.8 5.6 5.1 —
4.4 6.5 6.8 7.1 6.5 5.8 5.3 5.1 5.2
2.9 4.5 6.0 6.9 6.4 6.2 6.0 6.2 —
— — — — — — 35.9 37.1 36.7
— — — 23.7 26.5 27.2 27.9 32.6 29.3
2006
—
—
—
—
—
5.3
—
—
—
Source: National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, special tabulations, as published in Science and Engineering Indicators 2008. Note: —, not available. OECD, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
about half of university research was funded by industry in the early 1990s (Kim 2000), and one survey found that nearly half of the companies canvassed had worked with universities (Sohn and Kenney 2007). The industry share of research funding declined in the late 1990s to about 15 percent, presumably reflecting increasing levels of government funding in research (see table 10). Nevertheless, it remains higher than the 6 percent in OECD countries, indicating that industry engagement continues to be important, even if university contributions are not readily acknowledged, and in spite of the poor performance record in proactive measures such as academic spinoffs (Sohn and Kenney 2007). Some would argue that research orientation was slow to develop in Korean universities because of the historical division of labor whereby public research institutions rather than universities were responsible for research (Lee 2000; Sohn and Kenney 2007). Similar difficulties are encountered in India, where there is a wellestablished group of public research institutions whose status is higher than that of the universities (Jayaram 2007). The best researchers tend to be recruited into research institutions, leaving universities in a difficult position for developing research capabilities. The fact that the research institutions have no teaching responsibilities makes the situation worse in that the best researchers are not contributing to the training of the next generation (Jayaram 2007). There is no question that public research institutions can be spectacularly successful in the development of high-tech industry, as the experience with ERSO in Taiwan, China, shows. It is hard to imagine that similar results could have been obtained in so short a time if similar capacity had been established in a university. Still, the fact that relevant research capacity was concentrated outside universities probably represents a lost opportunity for universities in Taiwan, China, as well.