Accounting for Discovery: Financing Research Portfolios and Circuits of Commerce in Scientific Labs

• In Event: 40263 - Knowledge Markets, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

Abstract

University R&D spending in the U.S. recently reached nearly $100 billion. This money goes toward the creation of research programs that foster innovation by training the next generation of STEM graduates. However, despite the central role of research funding in academic research, we lack a fundamental understanding of how PIs think about their research finances and how labs finance their research portfolios. To shed light on this relationship, we propose two sets of questions, which we address by integrating theoretical insights from organizational studies, innovation studies, and economic sociology. We use these literatures to articulate core concepts and theorized relationships, which we formulate into falsifiable propositions. We evaluate our propositions in the context of five Materials Science and Engineering labs drawing on a combination of interviews, observations, and organizational archival analysis.

Authors

• Vincent Yung, Northwestern University

• Jeannette Anastasia Colyvas, Northwestern University