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As off-shoring continues to increase, Professor Marie Thursby focuses her research to better understand the factors that drive companies to send their research and development (R&D) operations overseas. In a 2006 study sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Thursby and Jerry Thursby, professor and chair of economics at Emory University, presented their findings to the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable of the National Academies.
The survey of more than 200 multi-national companies across fifteen industries (mostly based in the United States and Western Europe) found that lower cost is not the chief factor driving companies to move their R&D operations to countries like China and India. They found that the quality of R&D personnel available and opportunities for university collaboration are key attractors. In addition they found that companies are keeping their most cutting-edge research in developed countries where intellectual property protection is strongest. Their study indicates that only 22 percent of the R&D effort in emerging countries is for new science as opposed to familiar sciences already in use by a company or its competitors.
While costs are higher in the United States and other developed countries, these economies still have a comparative advantage in R&D because of the high caliber of their scientists, particularly given the intellectual property environment, says Thursby. Not everything is moving to China and India.
In a recent paper published in the December 8, 2006 issue of the journal Science, Thursby and Thursby found that companies continue to keep the majority of their cutting-edge R&D in developed nations. They also found that high-tech companies frequently seek collaborative relationships with research universities. The authors note that in order to maintain this competitive advantage in the new science arena, developed countries must have government and educational policies that preserve the excellence and accessibility of their research universities.
In addition Thursby is a noted authority on technology transfer moving technology from university labs to market. She also directs TI:GER Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results, a unique program to prepare students for the challenges of commercializing new technologies and delivering innovative products to the market place. In collaboration with Emory University’s School of Law, TI:GER brings together teams of graduate students in science, engineering, business and law who are assigned a technology to study how best to bring it to market from patenting to marketing and finance. | 