Collaboration or funding: lessons from a study of nanotechnology patenting in Canada and the United States

This paper is concerned with how government research funding and collaboration between researchers affect academic technological production in the context of nanotechnology in Canada and in the United States. We use the co-invention and co-authorship networks of scientists to build indicators of collaborative behaviour and investigate whether the nature of the network plays a role in the academic technological productivity and quality. Results suggest that technological output has the potential to offer governments useful guidance concerning the effectiveness of academic grants and collaboration in the United States and in Canada. This paper provides evidence that the position of researchers in both co-invention and co-publication networks does influence technological productivity and quality.

Mots clés

• research funding
• academic patents
• collaboration
• nanotechnology