¹Management Division, Columbia Business School, New York, NY, USA

Correspondence: JW Kim, Management Division, Columbia Business School, 3022 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, USA. E-mail: jwk2108@columbia.edu

Abstract

The increasing commercialization of academic science has generated concerns that this trend will negatively affect the research focus and productivity of academic scientists. Breschi et al. analyze a longitudinal data set of Italian academic inventors to empirically examine the impact of patenting on university professors' scientific productivity. They find that academic inventors actually increase their productivity and quality of scientific research post-patenting. This comment considers the social mechanisms that produce the article's key findings, and explore the broader implications for universities and public policy.