Federal Funding of University Research Spurs Local Technology Entrepreneurship

Source: Valentina Tartari and Scott Stern, “More than an Ivory Tower: The Impact of Research Institutions on the Quantity and Quality of Entrepreneurship,” National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 28846, May 2021, DOI 10.3386/w28846.

Commentary: The United States has long had programs and policies such as the Bayh-Dole Act to spur commercialization of federally funded research. New research finds that federal research funding for universities correlates to improvements in high-growth, technology entrepreneurship. In contrast, increases in non-research funding for universities and funding for national laboratories is associated with either a neutral or negative impact on the quality-adjusted quantity of entrepreneurship. Research funding for universities seems to play a unique role in promoting the acceleration of local entrepreneurial ecosystems.