The goal of this project is to identify the ways science policy needs to influence the mobility of researchers. It contributes to answering the question whether politically desirable effects of mobility occur under the present conditions and whether such mobility has unintended side effects such as brain drain.

In high technology areas intersector mobility, i.e. the movement of researchers from publically supported to private company supported research, is believed to advance innovation and is therefore seen positively. The causes, courses, and effects of this mobility have, however, until now not been thoroughly examined. Intersector mobility differs from classical interorganizational mobility of researchers in that a job change into industry does not necessarily mean a movement away from publically supported research. For example, scientists in publically supported research organizations may set up companies and carry out research in both contexts. This is also true for the proportion of mobility in both directions. It cannot be ruled out that there are brain drains in intersector mobility, i.e. top scientists may leave publically supported research for work in industry or from industry into publically supported research. Such brain drains cannot be seen a priori as negative. It must first be known which researchers make the move between publically supported research and industry and for what reasons, and, further, what effects such mobility has in both sectors.

The study is being carried out in the area of biomedicine/biotechnology because this field can be seen to be paradigmatic for the future dynamics of national innovation systems. The integration of basic research and innovation and the increasing activity of companies in basic research means that the same group of persons are the most important resource for both science and business.

Up until now it has not been clear what contribution the intersector mobility of scientists makes in the transfer of knowledge and technology in innovation processes. Thus, one of the important important goals of this project is to determine this contribution. The following questions need to be answered:

•  How widespread is intersector mobility in innovation? Is it an exception or is it an everyday component of the production of knowledge in the process of innovation? What forms of intersector mobility can be identified?

An important goal of this study is to identify the causes of such mobility. It is well known that scientists in biomedical research frequently expect to gain profits from their research (Etzkowitz 1998). However, it cannot be assumed a priori that this is the only reason for mobility. Furthermore, the effects of intersector mobility need to be identified. It can be that the significance of such mobility for innovative processes goes beyond the transfer of implicit knowledge. Therefore, the following more general questions need to be examined:

•  What positive and negative effects occur in the organization which the scientist leaves and in the one that is joined? How do contents of research, cooperation among colleagues and, if relevant, business activities of the organization change?

Lastly, does intersector mobility actually mean 'brain exchange' or is it asymetric, i.e. primarily movement out of one sector into another? The project also examines the following questions regarding the linking of intersector mobility with international mobility:

•  Are there intersector brain drains, that is, permanent moves out of publically supported research into industry or in the reverse direction? Do the patterns of mobility of elite scientists differ from those of intersector mobility in general?

The aim of this study is to provide information about causes, extent, direction and effects of intersector mobility of scientists in biomedicine/biotechnology. In order to answer the above questions, a broad investigation in the field is necessary. The relevant actors need to be identified, i.e. the most important producers of knowledge in the field, who at the same time represent the institutions between which intersector mobility takes place. The identification of scientists who have switched between publically supported research and business is done in a step-by-step process of elimination: from the outlining of the field over the relevant participants and their cooperations and then on to direct questioning. The reasons for, the conditions and effects of mobility are identified using written as well as oral questionaires. Changes in the production of knowledge are also researched using questionaires as well as bibliometric methods.

 

Duration: 1.05.2004 – 31.03.2007

 

Further reading

- Etzkowitz, Henry (1998): »The Norms of Entrepreneurial Science: Cognitive Effects of the New University-industry Linkages.« In: Research Policy, Jg. 27, S. 823-833.

- European Commission (Hg.) (2003): Structuring the European Research Area. Human Resources and Mobility. Marie Curie Actions. Work Programme. Brussels.