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<!doctype html> <html> <head>  <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-1XW7MER8PY"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-1XW7MER8PY'); </script> <meta name="MS.LOCALE" content="EN"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> <META http-equiv="Content-Script-Type" content="text/javascript"> <LINK REL="SHORTCUT ICON" HREF="/favicon.ico"> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="EconPapers" href="/EP_searchplug.xml"> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="EconPapers: Author" href="/EPauth_searchplug.xml"> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="EconPapers: Title" href="/EPtitle_searchplug.xml"> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="/ep.js"> </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/EconPapers.css"> <title>EconPapers: Incentives for Academic Entrepreneurship and Economic Performance: Sweden and the United States</title>  <LINK REL='SCHEMA.dc' HREF='http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/'> <META NAME="dc.Title" CONTENT="Incentives for Academic Entrepreneurship and Economic Performance: Sweden and the United States"> <META NAME="dc.Creator" CONTENT="Henrekson, Magnus"> <META NAME="dc.Creator" CONTENT="Rosenberg, Nathan"> <meta name="dc.Subject" content="Academic entrepreneurship; Innovation; R&D; Spin-off firms; Technology transfer; University-industry relations; Universities and business formation."> <meta name="dc.Publisher" content="Research Institute of Industrial Economics"> <meta name="dc.Type" content="text"> <meta name="dc.Type" scheme="DCT2" content="techreport"> <meta name='dc.Date' content='2000-03-03'> <meta name="redif-type" content="paper"> <meta name="wp-number" content="530"> <meta name='handle' content='RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0530'> <meta name="JEL-Codes" content="J24; O31; O32; O57"> <meta name='EPDATE' content="2007-02-20"> <meta name='description' content="By Magnus Henrekson and Nathan Rosenberg; Abstract: The recent 'scientification' of commercial technology has brought the interface between universities and industry into"> <meta name="series" content="Working Paper Series"> <meta name="citation_authors" content="Henrekson, Magnus; Rosenberg, Nathan"> <meta name="citation_author" content="Henrekson, Magnus"> <meta name="citation_author" content="Rosenberg, Nathan"> <meta name="citation_title" content="Incentives for Academic Entrepreneurship and Economic Performance: Sweden and the United States"> <meta name="citation_date" content="2000/03/03"> <meta name="citation_year" content="2000"> <meta name="citation_publication_date" content="2000/03/03"> <meta name="citation_technical_report_institution" content="Research Institute of Industrial Economics"> <meta name="citation_technical_report_number" content="530"> <meta name="citation_keywords" content="Academic entrepreneurship; Innovation; R&D; Spin-off firms; Technology transfer; University-industry relations; Universities and business formation."> <meta name="citation_abstract" content="The recent 'scientification' of commercial technology has brought the interface between universities and industry into sharp focus. In particular, academic entrepreneurship, i.e., the variety of ways in which academics take direct part in the commercialization of research, is widely discussed. The purpose of this paper is to compare academic entrepreneurship in the US and Sweden and attempt to explain why the US academic system appears to have been more successful in spawning academic entrepreneurship compared to its Swedish counterpart despite large levels of R&D spending and comprehensive government support schemes in Sweden. Our analysis points to weaknesses in the Swedish incentive structure in key respects: the rate of return to human capital investment, incentives to become an entrepreneur and to expand existing businesses, and insufficient incentives within the university system to adjust curricula and research budgets to outside demand. Several policy measures during the 1990s have reduced the weaknesses in the Swedish incentive structure. The current emergence of a more vibrant entrepreneurial culture in Sweden in some areas is consistent with these changes, although the rules of the game are still unfavorable relative to the US. Our analysis suggests that further measures favoring entrepreneurial activity would encourage academic entrepreneurship even further."> <meta name="citation_abstract_html_url" content="https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0530"> <link rel='canonical' href='https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0530'>  </head> <body background="/bg.gif"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td rowspan="5" bgcolor="#008241" width="4"> </td> <td bgcolor="#008241" colspan="3" width='251'><a href='https://econpapers.repec.org/'><img border="0" src="/logo_econpapers.gif" width="251" height="37" alt="EconPapers"></a></td> <td bgcolor="#008241" width='100%'> </td> <td rowspan="5" bgcolor="#008241" width="4"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#008241" colspan="3" width='251'><a href='https://econpapers.repec.org/'><img border="0" src="/logo2_econpapers.gif" width="251" height="16" alt="Economics at your fingertips"></a></td> <td bgcolor="#008241"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign='top'><div class='sidebar'> <p><a href="/">EconPapers Home</a> <br><a href="/about.htm">About EconPapers</a> <p><a href="/paper/">Working Papers</a> <br><a href="/article/">Journal Articles</a> <br><a href="/bookchap/">Books and Chapters</a> <br><a href="/software/">Software Components</a> <p><a href="/RAS/">Authors</a> <p><a href="/scripts/jelsearch.pf">JEL codes</a> <br><a href='/scripts/nep.pf'>New Economics Papers</a>  <p style='margin-bottom: 0.5em'><a href="/scripts/search.pf">Advanced Search</a></p> <form action="/scripts/search.pf" method="GET" name="search" accept-charset="UTF-8"> <div align="left"> <input type="text" name="ft" class='quicksearch' size='10'><br> <input type=submit value="Quick Search" class="button"> </div> </form> <p><a href="/FAQ.htm">EconPapers FAQ</a> <br><span class='smaller'><a href='/archiveFAQ.htm'>Archive maintainers FAQ</a> <br><a href="/FAQ.htm#Cookies">Cookies at EconPapers</a> </span> <p><a href='/scripts/a/abstract.pf?p=y;h=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0530'>Format for printing</a> <p><a href='https://blog.repec.org/'>The RePEc blog</a> <br><span class="smaller"><a href="https://plagiarism.repec.org/">The RePEc plagiarism page</a></span> </div> </td> <td rowspan="2" bgcolor="#008241" width="4">   </td> <td rowspan="2" colspan="2" width="100%" valign=top bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td rowspan='1' valign='top' width='85%'><div class='bodytext'>  <div id='processing' class='itemref' onClick='clear_wait()'><img width='0' height='0' align=middle src='/EPwait.gif'></div><div id='greyedout' class='itemshadow' onClick='clear_wait()'></div> <h1 class="colored">Incentives for Academic Entrepreneurship and Economic Performance: Sweden and the United States</h1> <p><i><a href="/RAS/phe60.htm">Magnus Henrekson</a></i> (<script language='JavaScript' type='text/javascript'>Obfuscate( 'ifn.se', 'magnus.henrekson' )</script>) and <i><a href="/RAS/pro962.htm">Nathan Rosenberg</a></i> <p>No 530, <a href='/paper/hhsiuiwop/'>Working Paper Series</a> from <a href="http://www.ifn.se/">Research Institute of Industrial Economics</a> <p><b>Abstract:</b> The recent 'scientification' of commercial technology has brought the interface between universities and industry into sharp focus. In particular, academic entrepreneurship, i.e., the variety of ways in which academics take direct part in the commercialization of research, is widely discussed. The purpose of this paper is to compare academic entrepreneurship in the US and Sweden and attempt to explain why the US academic system appears to have been more successful in spawning academic entrepreneurship compared to its Swedish counterpart despite large levels of R&D spending and comprehensive government support schemes in Sweden. Our analysis points to weaknesses in the Swedish incentive structure in key respects: the rate of return to human capital investment, incentives to become an entrepreneur and to expand existing businesses, and insufficient incentives within the university system to adjust curricula and research budgets to outside demand. Several policy measures during the 1990s have reduced the weaknesses in the Swedish incentive structure. The current emergence of a more vibrant entrepreneurial culture in Sweden in some areas is consistent with these changes, although the rules of the game are still unfavorable relative to the US. Our analysis suggests that further measures favoring entrepreneurial activity would encourage academic entrepreneurship even further. <p><b>Keywords:</b> <a href="/scripts/search.pf?kw=Academic entrepreneurship">Academic entrepreneurship</a>; <a href="/scripts/search.pf?kw=Innovation">Innovation</a>; <a href="/scripts/search.pf?kw=R&D">R&D</a>; <a href="/scripts/search.pf?kw=Spin-off firms">Spin-off firms</a>; <a href="/scripts/search.pf?kw=Technology transfer">Technology transfer</a>; <a href="/scripts/search.pf?kw=University-industry relations">University-industry relations</a>; <a href="/scripts/search.pf?kw=Universities business formation.">Universities and business formation.</a> (search for similar items in EconPapers)<br> <b>JEL-codes:</b> <a href="/scripts/search.pf?jel=J24">J24</a> <a href="/scripts/search.pf?jel=O31">O31</a> <a href="/scripts/search.pf?jel=O32">O32</a> <a href="/scripts/search.pf?jel=O57">O57</a> (search for similar items in EconPapers)<br> <b>Pages:</b> 71 pages<br> <b>Date:</b> 2000-03-03<br> <b>New Economics Papers:</b> this item is included in <a href='/scripts/search.pf?neplist=nepdev2000-03-27'>nep-dev</a>, <a href='/scripts/search.pf?neplist=nepino2000-03-27'>nep-ino</a> and <a href='/scripts/search.pf?neplist=neplab2000-03-27'>nep-lab</a><br> <b>References:</b> <a href='https://citec.repec.org/cgi-bin/subRef.pl?h=repec:hhs:iuiwop:0530'>Add references at CitEc</a> <br><b>Citations:</b> <a href='/scripts/showcites.pf?h=repec:hhs:iuiwop:0530'>View citations in EconPapers</a> (7) <p><b>Downloads:</b> (external link)<br><a href="/scripts/redir.pf?u=https%3A%2F%2Fswopec.hhs.se%2Fiuiwop%2Fpapers%2Fiuiwop0530.fig.xls;h=repec:hhs:iuiwop:0530">https://swopec.hhs.se/iuiwop/papers/iuiwop0530.fig.xls</a> Figures (application/vnd.ms-excel)<br><a href="/scripts/redir.pf?u=https%3A%2F%2Fswopec.hhs.se%2Fiuiwop%2Fpapers%2Fiuiwop0530.pdf.zip;h=repec:hhs:iuiwop:0530">https://swopec.hhs.se/iuiwop/papers/iuiwop0530.pdf.zip</a> (application/pdf)<br><a href="/scripts/redir.pf?u=https%3A%2F%2Fswopec.hhs.se%2Fiuiwop%2Fpapers%2Fiuiwop0530.pdf;h=repec:hhs:iuiwop:0530">https://swopec.hhs.se/iuiwop/papers/iuiwop0530.pdf</a> (application/pdf)<br><a href="/scripts/redir.pf?u=https%3A%2F%2Fswopec.hhs.se%2Fiuiwop%2Fpapers%2Fiuiwop0530.ps.zip;h=repec:hhs:iuiwop:0530">https://swopec.hhs.se/iuiwop/papers/iuiwop0530.ps.zip</a> (application/postscript)<br><a href="/scripts/redir.pf?u=https%3A%2F%2Fswopec.hhs.se%2Fiuiwop%2Fpapers%2Fiuiwop0530.ps;h=repec:hhs:iuiwop:0530">https://swopec.hhs.se/iuiwop/papers/iuiwop0530.ps</a> (application/postscript) <p><b>Related works:</b><br>Working Paper: <a href='/paper/hhshastef/0362.htm'>Incentives for Academic Entrepreneurship and Economic Performance: Sweden and the United States</a> (2000) <img src="/downloads_econpapers.gif" width="61" height="16" alt="Downloads"><br>This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: <a href='/scripts/search.pf?adv=true;wp=on;art=on;soft=on;mh=100;ph=10;sort=rank;kwp=true;kw=Incentives+for+Academic+Entrepreneurship+and+Economic+Performance:+Sweden+and+the+United+States'>Search</a> for items with the same title. <p><b>Export reference:</b> <span class="fakelink" onClick="return item_as_reference('bibtex')">BibTeX</span> <span class=fakelink onClick="return item_as_reference('ris')">RIS</span> (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) <span class=fakelink onClick="return item_as_reference('html')">HTML/Text</span> <div id='itemref' class='itemref'></div><div id='itemshadow' class='itemshadow'></div> <p><b>Persistent link:</b> <a href='/RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0530'>https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0530</a> <p><a href='https://logec.repec.org/scripts/paperstat.pf?h=repec:hhs:iuiwop:0530'>Access Statistics</a> for this paper <p><a href='/paper/hhsiuiwop/'>More papers</a> in Working Paper Series from <a href="http://www.ifn.se/">Research Institute of Industrial Economics</a><span class='smaller'> Research Institute of Industrial Economics, Box 55665, SE-102 15 Stockholm, Sweden. 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