Universities and the advancements of technologies
COURSE CODE: SPL810 A | SLOT: AB | CREDIT: 3-0-0
COURSE CODE: SPL810 A | SLOT: AB | CREDIT: 3-0-0
Universities have historically played a significant role in advancing technologies. Some of the well known technologies and technology firms, such as Google, Facebook, and Yahoo!, were started in universities by students and/or faculty. Similarly, large technology firms run global programs for partnering with universities (See the Google example here). What is it about universities that make them suitable for not just discovering new technologies but also enable others to use these technologies for societal and economic progress? What is it that technologies firms can do (and are doing) to explore and exploit the knowledge that universities produce? When, why, and how do technology firms think about collaborating with universities and vice-versa?
These are some of the questions that this course will explore – both in the context of India and the world. From a policy perspective, the course will examine the roles of governments and policies to ensure strong linkages between universities and firms. It will analyse how can policies shape the development of new technologies in universities and diffusion of the same in to firms. Further, the course will analyze why certain regions have come about to be technology hubs (i.e., Silicon Valley in the US, Bangalore in India). In doing so, it will explore the relationships between governments, universities, and regional stakeholders in developing hubs of technological innovation. Conceptually, the course will draw on theories/concepts from organizational theory, knowledge exploration and exploitation, technology transfer from universities, and higher education policy. It will illustrate these concepts through case studies and articles on regional technology hubs, startups, and university-industry collaboration.
If you are interested in taking the course, please fill the form here OR directly register on the IITD ERP system.
TIMINGS
The class meets on Mondays and Thursdays at 3:30 PM.
Student office hours are scheduled on Tuesdays, 3:00 - 4:00 PM and Fridays, 10:00 - 11:00 AM. Please schedule a 20 min slots on my calender here
Firms as knowledge–based organization
Theories of knowledge transfer (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990)
Overview of technical higher education in India
Ambidextrous firms - choosing between exploration and exploitation (O Reilly and Tushman, 2004)
Motivation theories - understanding academic motivations (Balven et al., 2018)
Models of collaboration between universities and firms (Prashantham, 2021)
Role of governments and policy in knowledge diffusion and transfer (Bozeman, 2000; Bania et al.,1993)
Comparative policy perspectives across countries about knowledge transfer from universities (Youtie and Shapira, 2008; Tödtling and Trippl, 2005)