university commercialisation
technology transfer offices
triple helix
university industry technology transfer
BAYH-DOLE ACT
RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT
ENTREPRENEURIAL UNIVERSITY
ACADEMIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
INDUSTRY LINKAGES
PUBLIC RESEARCH
LIFE SCIENCES
UNITED-STATES
The prospect of increased revenue and spillovers has influenced the mission of the university to reflect an increasingly commercial orientation. This paper focuses on university commercialisation in three countries (Ireland, New Zealand and the USA), through 58 semi-structured interviews with technology transfer officers and a quantitative assessment of university patenting trajectories. Using interviews with technology transfer office executives and university patent applications as proxies for commercial orientation, the study uncovers explanations to the heterogeneous commercial orientation apparent in all three regions. Findings indicate that path dependency; university leadership; technology transfer office scale and connectivity are critical determinants of commercial orientation. The paper concludes by surmising how path dependency might strongly dictate the other determinants and outlines some implications for literature and policy development.