Public and Private Universities: Unequal Sources of Regional Innovation?

Public universities occupy a unique place in the R&D system of the United States because of their state-controlled missions, sources of funding, and administrative structures. State governments preferentially support public university research that benefits local industry to stimulate regional innovation-based economic development. This article hence examines the geographic distribution of university patent citations during the years 1975 to 2000 to test if public university research spillovers are more likely to be localized at the state level as compared to those of private universities. The author finds little evidence in support of this hypothesis but a positive association between the quality of academic research and localization of resulting spillovers. Public universities should emphasize research quality as a means of fulfilling their regional innovation commitments.