ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some critical differences between the flexibly specialised regional network model of innovation common to some continental European countries, and the Anglo-American science-based research and development, intellectual property-driven model. It speculates on the potential for hybrid models that take advantage of the dynamic short-term investment in science and technology prevalent in Anglo-American collaborations, and the more incremental and more sustainable and regionally beneficial models represented by regional industrial networks. It could also be explained by the slow movement to incentives, such as those provided by the US Bayh Dole Act in 1980. The chapter manifests the pragmatist philosophy embedded in the community service and applied science missions of the major publicly-funded US universities, particularly those benefiting from the land grant system. It emphasises bioscience, biotechnology and biomedical research, because inventions in these fields are more easily licensed and patented than are those in other industries.
