Outcomes of external engagement by academics
To fill this gap, the project TASTE (Taking stock: External engagement by academics) gathered new primary and secondary data on academics’ external engagement and commercialisation. The aim was threefold: to unveil how knowledge-transfer activities unfold, to quantify their impact on individuals, firms and public wealth, and to advance general management theories. The team uncovered the social-cognitive determinants of academics' enterprising behaviours. They examined how and to what extent academics' individual characteristics shape the organisational environments they are active in. The research also looked at the impact that institutional dimensions have on academics' cognitions and behaviours. Hosted at the Department of Management of the University of Bologna (UNIBO) in Italy, TASTE(opens in new window) brought together researchers from world-class institutions in Norway (Bodo University), the United Kingdom (Imperial College London), and the United States (University of Connecticut and University of Illinois Chicago). The TASTE database was created and stores information on the population of 95 Italian universities from the year 2000. It includes multilevel-longitudinal data on their personnel, internal policies, departments, patenting and spinout activities, as well as the characteristics and entrepreneurial support mechanisms of the regions and local contexts. Three papers were published in international peer-reviewed journals, as well as a book, two book chapters, one technical report and five working papers. More than twenty conference and workshop presentations were held in four continents, as well as five research seminars hosted in Italy, Norway and the US. A comprehensive list of the scientific papers and technical reports is available online(opens in new window). TASTE will have implications for management theory, as well as for managers, entrepreneurs and policymakers.