Bridging radical science and technology

The proposed project studies the process of bridging science and innovation in particular for radical ideas. The existing industry science literature has explored how firms can benefit from science for their innovative performance. It also has studied how science can be activated to contribute better to innovation. However, there is a gap in both streams of literature as they did not differentiate between types of science and types of innovation, specifically the radical vs incremental nature of ideas. Using recently in-house (a) developed novel indicators for radical papers and patents and (b) thoroughly cleaned scientific non-patent references linking individual papers and patents, this project will explore (1) what science is behind radical inventions and (2) what technological impact does radical science have. Furthermore, bringing in insights from economic geography and social networks, this project will study (3a) the diffusion of radical science to the technology realm in general, (3b) the science spillover to firms through collocated and personal ties in particular, and (4) how the “absorptive capacity” role played by internal science differs for acquiring radical vs incremental external science. This project has important implications for government S&T policy and corporate R&D management.