Knowledge Generation and Technical Change

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxii

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2. Context and Analytic Principles

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Beyond the Endless Frontier

      • Henry Etzkowitz

      Pages 3-26

   3. Generation and Commercialization of Knowledge

      • William Lacy

      Pages 27-53

   4. Public Research/Private Alignments

      • Gordon Rausser

      Pages 55-62

   5. Challenges for Public Agricultural Research and Extension in a World of Proprietary Science and Technology

      • Brian Wright

      Pages 63-77

   6. Finance, Organization, and Impacts of U.S. Agricultural Research: Future Prospects

      • Wallace Huffman

      Pages 79-110

   7. Agricultural Knowledge Systems: Issues of Accountability

      • Cornelia Butler Flora

      Pages 111-123

   8. Institutional Innovation in Natural Resource Management

      • John Cary

      Pages 125-147

3. Empirical Studies

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 149-149

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   2. Land-Grant/Industry Relationships and the Institutional Relations of Technological Innovation in Agriculture

      • Frederick H. Buttel

      Pages 151-175

   3. Structure of Public-Private Knowledge Networks in Plant Biotechnology: An EU-US Comparison

      • Irini Theodorakopoulou, Nicholas Kalaitzandonakes

      Pages 177-192

   4. Offices of Technology Transfer: Privatizing University Innovations for Agriculture

      • Douglas Parker, David Zilberman, Federico Castillo

      Pages 193-202

   5. Origins of Public-Private Knowledge Flows and Current State-of-the-Art

      • Jacqueline Senker, Wendy Faulkner

      Pages 203-232

   6. Institutional Relations in Agricultural Information Systems

      • Steven Wolf, David Zilberman, Steve Wu, David Just

      Pages 233-266

   7. Innovative Models of Technology Generation and Transfer: Lessons Learned from the South

      • Lori Ann Thrupp, Miguel Altieri

      Pages 267-290

   8. Whither Agricultural Extension Worldwide? Reforms and Prospects

      • William Rivera

      Pages 291-311

   9. Agricultural Extension: Generic Challenges and the Ingredients for Solutions

      • Gershon Feder, Anthony Willett, Willem Zijp

      Pages 313-353

4. Conclusion

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 355-355

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   2. Conclusion: Institutional Dimensions of Knowledge System Design and Analysis

      • Steven Wolf, David Zilberman

      Pages 357-365

Knowledge generation and transfer mechanisms are being transformed in important and controversial ways. Investment in research and development has increased in response to recognition that scientific productivity is tightly connected to economic dynamism. Patent protection has been expanded in order to stimulate higher levels of private investment. Intellectual property rights held by public organizations and researchers are now increasingly transferred to private organizations to accelerate the diffusion and enhance the value of knowledge produced by public agencies and universities. Additionally, new institutions such as university offices of technology transfer, venture capital markets, and a variety of consortia in knowledge-intensive industries are being established throughout the United States and in other parts of the world. These changes have led to a repositioning of the state in systems of innovation and an increase in the proprietary character of technical information.
The purpose of this book is to review and analyze i) contemporary transitions in agricultural knowledge generation and extension arrangements from an empirical perspective, and ii) emerging and contradictory perspectives as to how knowledge systems can be assessed effectively. The authors aim to provide the reader with a better understanding of

• the implications of new biotechnologies and new intellectual property rights regimes on public-private relations in science,
• the extent to which benefits from scientific knowledge are being appropriated by private sector actors,
• the diversity and possible outcomes of privatization initiatives in extension, and
• prospects for public goods production and ecological sustainability given contemporary trends.

The book presents contrasting views on the degree of complementarity and substitution between private and public sector investments in research and extension. Recognizing that the labels `public' and `private' are incomplete and at times misleading descriptions of the structure and function of coordinating bodies in social systems, the analyses highlight ways in which public and private spaces and modes of functioning combine. In addition to illustrating a broad range of analytic methodologies useful for studying organizational questions in knowledge systems, the authors identify the implications of a range of past and potential institutional innovations.

• Biotechnologie
• Diversity
• Intellectual Property
• Investment
• agriculture
• innovation
• institutions
• merger
• organization
• production
• productivity
• public goods
• research & development (R&D)
• sustainability
• technology transfer

• Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University, USA

  Steven A. Wolf

• Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Berkeley, USA

  David Zilberman

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