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Observers of scientific and technological innovation fear a widening “valley of death” between early-stage basic science conducted on university campuses and late-stage commercialization conducted by firms. The growing gap between university-based basic science and last-mile product development may be swallowing promising scientific discoveries, contributing to an apparent slowdown of productivity growth in the US.

Many universities invest in programs aimed at filling this gap by facilitating applied R&D collaborations between academic scientists and industry partners. But we lack evidence about the efficacy of these programs, and about other university policies and practices that might encourage commercially viable innovation. Fostering more research partnerships with universities to develop, test, and implement more effective ways to incubate pre-commercial applied research could potentially accelerate the pace of scientific and technological innovation.

In partnership with the 86 campuses in the SSRC’s College and University Fund for the Social Sciences, the SSRC has developed an initiative to support coordinated randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on university campuses to find interventions that cost-effectively increase pre-commercial applied research partnerships. Building this evidence base, and securing the implementation of effective interventions, could potentially accelerate the pace of scientific and technological innovation.

This initiative builds on a College and University Fund for the Social Sciences RCT consortium designed to identify cost-effective and scalable interventions on university campuses that increase and broaden opportunities in STEM disciplines. This RCT consortium signals the interest of many universities in partnering with the research community on experimental trials of alternative university practices and policies, creating new opportunities to support public innovation. 

Incubating Innovation Partnerships

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