The role of universities in the national innovation systems of China and the East Asian NIEs: An exploratory analysis of publications and patenting data

The Triple Helix model highlights the ‘third mission’ of universities to engage in IP(intellectual property) creation and technology transfer activities further downstream. Thispaper uses publications data and US patent data to examine the role played by leadingresearch-intensive universities in the national innovation systems of the emerging economyof China and the newly industrialised economies (NIE) of Singapore, Hong Kong, Koreaand Taiwan. Our analysis highlights significant differences amongst these five East Asianeconomies, and also reveals contrasts to observed patterns in the USA and Europe. Ourfindings confirm that universities in the five economies have increased their contribution totheir respective national innovation systems in terms of research output and R&Dcollaboration. The NIE universities experienced rapid patent growth rates over 1995–2005,followed by Chinese universities in the subsequent period of 2006–2010. However, thecontribution of universities in all five East Asian economies to the total volume of IPcreation in their economies generally remains low. Moreover, patent quality is lowcompared to patents from non-university sectors, suggesting weak technologycommercialisation impacts.