State Legislators And Economic Development: University‐Industry Relationships And The Role Of Government In Biotechnology

This article presents a detailed examination of some key political dimen‐ sions underlying cooperative research in agricultural biotechnology among state land‐grant universities, state legislatures, and biotechnology corpora‐ tions. Factor analysis and path analysis methods are employed to assess differences in the perceptions of university administrators, biotechnology corporation researchers, and state legislators, using national and state survey data. Two attitudinal dimensions, one regarding cooperation among university and corporate researchers, and the other regarding barriers to joint research, are extracted. Generally similar attitudes are shared by university and legislative respondents, who are concerned over the prospects of market‐oriented university research. In contrast, corporate respondents are more concerned with reducing barriers to cooperative research and the need for more open communication between academia and industry, and with issues of patent rights. Extensions of this work to other states and to other high‐technology industries are considered.