From Knowledge to Profit?
Scientific Institutions and the Commercialization of Science


DATE OF WORKSHOP: 10-12 October 2016

PLACE: Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin

ORGANIZER/HOST: Research program ?History of the Max Planck Society? (GMPG)

CONTACT: Jaromir Balcar, Florian Schmaltz, Alexander von Schwerin

commercialization@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de

Deadline for abstracts (250-300 words): 28 February 2016

 

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.