Studies on Science, Technology, and the California Economy

The Industry-University Cooperative Research Program rigorously assesses the impact of funded projects on participants and the State economy. The program also supports a $250,000 annual competitive grants program that promotes research on the roles of publicly funded research and education on the California economy. These grants support studies undertaken by economists, social scientists, public policy scholars, and scientists and engineers. Topics funded, to date, include analyses of the microelectronics, biotechnology, environmental, and information sciences sectors of the California industry, as well as studies of the university-industry interface as the level of intellectual property relationships. This research informs the development of the Cooperative Research Program, itself, and helps to provide needed background and perspective for governmental analyses and decision making. In conjunction with these studies, the program is establishing a central repository of information for use in future research.

Research Objectives

One objective of supported research is to sharpen assessment of the contributions of the University of California, a publicly funded institution, to the economic and social welfare of the people of the state of California, both through direct analysis and through comparison with other sources of science and engineering innovation in California, including other universities, research institutions, and industry. Supported research and institutional data collection projects will clearly tie the University or other institutional source to measured economic impacts.

A second objective is to improve institutional data collection and self-assessment at the ten UC campuses and the Office of the President.

A third objective is to advance future study by creating a reliable data source, in the form of a central archive to which supported projects will contribute collected data. The creation of this archive will both serve the academic research community and create a resource for public policy decisions and for institutional assessment and planning at UC. The archive will ensure that submitted data meet appropriate standards to promote the intellectual integrity and replicability of research, while providing contributing investigators with appropriate control of data dissemination for a reasonable period of time.

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