How can we improve the transformation success rate of research results in the pharmaceutical industry? The game theoretic model of technology transfer subjects

Abstract

University–industry technology transfer (UITT) plays an important role in the construction of the national pharmaceutical innovation system. The speculations of a faculty inventor may hinder the successful transfer of pharmaceutical research results. This paper divides the specific process of the transformation of pharmaceutical research results into two parts: (1) an evolutionary game between faculty inventors and universities; and (2) a Stackelberg game between faculty inventors and pharmaceutical companies. Further, we carry out numerical simulations to analyze the impact of transformation success rate, income distribution coefficient, and a faculty inventor’s future working years on the transformation of pharmaceutical research results. The findings indicated that whether a combination of action strategies of faculty inventors and universities can evolve to the optimal equilibrium is determined by many factors, such as the technological transaction price of the pharmaceutical company and the reward or the income obtained by the faculty inventor. The transformation success rate and the income distribution coefficient are the key factors that affect the faculty inventor’s will and the behavior of the pharmaceutical company. The conclusions of this paper contribute to the research on how we can improve the success rate of research results and avoid resource waste, and provide a decision-making reference for the management of pharmaceutical research results in universities.