From Knowledge to Profit? Scientific Institutions and the Commercialization of Science
Type: Call for Papers
Date: October 10, 2016 to October 12, 2016
Location: Germany
Subject Fields: Contemporary
History, Economic History / Studies, History of Science, Medicine, and
Technology, Political History / Studies, Cultural History / Studies
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Deadline for abstracts (250-300 words): 28 February 2016
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The
relationship of science and technology – often seen as the relation of
basic and applied research – is a constant theme in science and
technology studies. Especially the commercialization of scientific
research has steadily gained attention in the last years. Our workshop
will focus on scientific institutions such as universities, independent
research institutes and other national and international scientific
organizations, and the roles they play in the commercialization of
science.
The contributions to the workshop should examine the
process of commercialization in science with a special focus on
scientific institutions and their internal and external relationships in
the second half of the 20th century. Papers applying a
comparative approach are especially welcome. Proposals are invited from
all relevant perspectives: science studies; history of science, medicine
and technology; cultural studies; business history; economic history;
and the history of law.
Definition and Agenda
According
to our definition, commercialization of science is the utilization of
scientific work and knowledge for commercial purposes in various ways,
including ‘feedback reactions’ of commercialization processes on
scientific research. From a historical perspective the commercialization
of science is not new. Various forms of cooperation between industry
and academic science reach far back in time, though a consensus has been
reached that it has been deeply rearranged in the last few decades.
Foremost, commercial criteria now have a stronger influence on
scientific research than ever before. Some recognize a profound
transformation of academic traditions in these developments (truth
oriented vs. application; concept of mode1/mode2), others highlight the
increased importance of universities for economic development in
relationship with the industry and the state (concept of the triple
helix). As an alternative it has been suggested to analyze the different
commercialization regimes of science (Mirowski and Sent 2008).
Our starting point is that the ways and methods of commercialization have been diverse. Processes of commercialization
affect institutions in many ways and on various levels, comprise
different dimensions and take place in specific social contexts. The
Cold War, the competition of political systems, economic crises,
privatization, deregulation, and globalization come to mind. We see the
capitalist economic system and the transformations of capitalist
societies as an overarching point of reference. However, we include
processes of commercialization in non-capitalist social systems. Our
goal is to contribute to the understanding of the temporally, regionally
and nationally different mechanisms of commercialization and their
political economies in a historical context.
Themes and research questions
The workshop covers a broad spectrum of aspects of commercialization in the second half of the 20th
century with an emphasis on national and international comparisons. We
welcome contributions that focus on scientific institutions and their
governance, intellectual property law, financing and economics, the
practices and effects of commercialization, science policy, and
discourse. Next to the relatively often studied theme of patent
protection, themes may include the licensing of research instruments,
terms and clauses in employment contracts, publishing clauses, contract
research, cooperation with industries, convergence of civil and military
research contexts (dual-use-problem), outsourcing, start-ups and
spin-offs, the architecture and spaces of technology transfer, and the
politicization and the (public) debates of problems surrounding
commercialization.
Overarching questions are: What is the object
of commercialization at universities, independent research institutions
and other scientific organizations (including foundations, societies and
associations)? When and how has the concept of commercialization
changed? What where the driving forces of commercialization inside and
outside of scientific institutions? In which ways did particular
institutions change due to commercialization processes? To what extent
did the ‘market’ influence the production methods of scientific
knowledge and how did market forces change scientific practice? To what
extent did commercial viability become a criterion of scientific
innovation? Who where the significant actors in the research
institutions, and how did they act in a national and international
context? Finally, we are interested in the relationship of
commercialization and knowledge and technology transfer, which has been a
dominating concept of innovation studies and science policy studies in
the last years.
Contact Info:
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin
Research program „History of the Max Planck Society” (GMPG)
Jaromir Balcar, Florian Schmaltz, Alexander von Schwerin
Contact Email: