Evaluating the social economic benefits of publicly funded basic research via scientists' career mobility

Abstract

The paper argues that studies of the social role of basic research and its contribution to innovation and technological development in the commercial sector tend to overemphasise the propositional knowledge it produces. Differentiating this propositional knowledge from underlying, generic problem-solving procedures, it is suggested that the latter are socially useful beyond the scientific process. Their universal nature makes them important inputs for the R&D activities of innovative firms. Due to the natural and institutional limits on the transferability of instrumental knowledge, the paper suggests that an evaluation of the social value of basic research must focus on the career trajectories of scientists who migrated from basic research institutions into the commercial sector.