History and Past Activities
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History and Past Activities |
Karel Müller
Charles University, Prague, mueller@fhs.cuni.cz
S&T in a Context of Transformation of Public and Private Spheres
The aim of the communication is to contribute to theoretical interpretation and understanding problems of commercialisation of R&D results. It follows an assumption that an effective theoretical concept may help specify factors influencing a study of the relevant issue - interfaces between academic science and industry. Interpretative arguments will reflect rich empirical findings about the emerging interfaces between academic science and industry (see e.g. the outcome of Triple Helix conferences). These findings are indicating that the respective interface has been laden with extensive conflicts as well as co-operative efforts, and accompanied by a formation of diversified intermediary capacities between both institutions. The suggested arguments will also take into account theoretical efforts to interpret studied interfaces between academic and industrial institutions, differences among various interpretations as well as some shared cognitive positions.
There is a shared view that a study of the interface should not be focused on a transfer of pieces of academic R&D knowledge to a locality of its utilisation only, yet whole cycle of its social production and reproduction in the context of both institutions should be involved. Following this perspective differences among academic and industrial institutions have been identified, like between social system of research and social system of science (Krohn, Küppers), between Mode I and Mode II (Gibbons at al.), between process of co modification (assumed by commercialisation) and process of codification (assumed by academic knowledge production), between codified knowledge and tacit knowledge etc. Having understanding of such distinctions a question can and should be asked how the interfaces among respective institutions are possible. Are they a promoting their function and identity formation by help of social closure (Abgrenzung), or are they becoming a subject of reflexivity, mutual adaptations and social transformations of institutions? I shall argue that both approaches are important to be analysed since they are reflecting crucial (competitive and co-operative; private and public) regimes of social coordination and have formative impact on effective interfaces between academy and industry.
The suggested interpretative effort will be closely bound to the outcome of comparative research project of six accession countries (Innovation policy issues in six candidate countires: the challenges, DG Enterprise, EUR 17036, Luxembourg 2001).
It has well documented that effective interfaces among academic, industrial and the other stake holders — necessary precondition for a formation of national innovation system — are conditioned not only by checks and balances between social subsystems but also that ones between public and private spheres. Re-foundation of these spheres in the post socialist countries out of etatistic power regime has been found to be a main constraint in appropriation of regulatory instruments of innovation policy. Taking into account the above outlined theoretical insight into academy-industry interface and the outcome of a comparative research among countries with different capabilities of social coordination the factors of influence on this interface will be specified.
Sociology of Science and Technology NETwork - last update: April 2006