IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ris/uncgec/2010_008.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Employment Growth from the Small Business Innovation Research Program

Author

Listed:
  • Link, Albert

    (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics)

  • Scott, John

    (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics)

Abstract

This paper investigates employment growth in small firms funded by the U.S. Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Using data collected by the National Research Council for each of five federal agencies, our analysis shows that on average over two-fifths of all projects retained 0 employees after completion and over one-third retained only 1 or 2 employees. Thus, on average, the direct impact of SBIR funded projects on employment is small, especially when compared to the mean number of employees in the firms. However, there are substantial cross-project differences in the number of retained employees that are explained by differences in the firms and their SBIR projects. We find across funding agencies that projects with intellectual property—patents, copyrights, trademarks, or publications—retained more employees after completion of the project. Also, we find that the public funding of research by the SBIR program is more likely to stimulate employment when the government created a market for the products, processes, or services developed by the research projects.

Suggested Citation

  • Link, Albert & Scott, John, 2010. "Employment Growth from the Small Business Innovation Research Program," UNCG Economics Working Papers 10-8, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:ris:uncgec:2010_008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://bryan.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/10-08.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Albert N. Link & John T. Scott, 2013. "Governments as entrepreneur: Evaluating the commercialization success of SBIR projects," Chapters, in: Public Support of Innovation in Entrepreneurial Firms, chapter 2, pages 25-38, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Albert N. Link & John T. Scott, 2013. "Private Investor Participation and Commercialization Rates for Government-sponsored Research and Development: Would a Prediction Market Improve the Performance of the SBIR Programme?," Chapters, in: Public Support of Innovation in Entrepreneurial Firms, chapter 11, pages 157-174, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Carlsson, Bo, 1992. "The Rise of Small Business: Causes and Consequences," Working Paper Series 357, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    4. David B. Audretsch & Albert N. Link & John T. Scott, 2013. "Public/private technology partnerships: evaluating SBIR-supported research," Chapters, in: Public Support of Innovation in Entrepreneurial Firms, chapter 5, pages 91-104, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Davis, Steven J & Haltiwanger, John & Schuh, Scott, 1996. "Small Business and Job Creation: Dissecting the Myth and Reassessing the Facts," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 297-315, August.
    6. Gregory Tassey, 2007. "Tax incentives for innovation: time to restructure the R&E tax credit," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 32(6), pages 605-615, December.
    7. Robert Atkinson, 2007. "Expanding the R&E tax credit to drive innovation, competitiveness and prosperity," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 32(6), pages 617-628, December.
    8. Josh Lerner, 2010. "The future of public efforts to boost entrepreneurship and venture capital," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 255-264, October.
    9. Lerner, Josh, 1999. "The Government as Venture Capitalist: The Long-Run Impact of the SBIR Program," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 72(3), pages 285-318, July.
    10. Ashley J. Stevens, 2004. "The Enactment of Bayh--Dole," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 93-99, January.
    11. David Audretsch & Roy Thurik, 2004. "A Model of the Entrepreneurial Economy," Papers on Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy 2004-12, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group.
    12. Scott J. Wallsten, 2000. "The Effects of Government-Industry R&D Programs on Private R&D: The Case of the Small Business Innovation Research Program," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 31(1), pages 82-100, Spring.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hiroyasu Inoue & Eiichi Yamaguchi, 2017. "Evaluation of the Small Business Innovation Research Program in Japan," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(1), pages 21582440176, February.
    2. Emma Tredgett & Alex Coad, 2015. "The shaky start of the UK Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) in Comparison to the US Small Business Innovation Research Programme (SBIR)," Management Working Papers 10, Birkbeck Department of Management, revised Jun 2015.
    3. Mark R. Ayoub & Sandra Gottschalk & Bettina Müller, 2017. "Impact of public seed-funding on academic spin-offs," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 42(5), pages 1100-1124, October.
    4. Sai Lan & Xiang Gao & Qing Wang & Yilin Zhang, 2018. "Public Policy Environment and Entrepreneurial Activities: Evidence from China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 26(3), pages 88-108, May.
    5. Falck, Oliver & Wiederhold, Simon, 2013. "Nachfrageorientierte Innovationspolitik," Studien zum deutschen Innovationssystem 12-2013, Expertenkommission Forschung und Innovation (EFI) - Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation, Berlin.
    6. Maha Aly & David B. Audretsch & Heike Grimm, 2021. "Emotional skills for entrepreneurial success: the promise of entrepreneurship education and policy," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 46(5), pages 1611-1629, October.
    7. Anna Kochenkova & Rosa Grimaldi & Federico Munari, 2016. "Public policy measures in support of knowledge transfer activities: a review of academic literature," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 407-429, June.
    8. Stephen Petrie & Mitchell Adams & Ben Mitra‐Kahn & Matthew Johnson & Russell Thomson & Paul Jensen & Alfons Palangkaraya & Elizabeth Webster, 2020. "TM‐Link: An Internationally Linked Trademark Database," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 53(2), pages 254-269, June.
    9. Albert N. Link & John T. Scott, 2013. "Bending the Arc of Innovation: Public Support of R&D in Small, Entrepreneurial Firms," Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-37088-4, February.
    10. Christopher S. Hayter, 2015. "Social Networks and the Success of University Spin-offs," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 29(1), pages 3-13, February.
    11. David B. Audretsch, 2018. "Industrial Organization and the Organization of Industries: Linking Industry Structure to Economic Performance," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 52(4), pages 603-620, June.
    12. Helge Dauchert & Dietmar Harhoff & Patrick Llerena & Wolfgang Crasemann & Carla Dekker & Oliver Falck & Simon Wiederhold & Ludger Wößmann, 2013. "Innovation on Demand? The Implications of Stronger Demand Orientation for Innovation Policy," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 66(05), pages 03-19, March.
    13. Albert N. Link & John T. Scott, 2013. "Public R&D subsidies, outside private support, and employment growth," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(6), pages 537-550, September.
    14. Hall, Michael & Link, Albert, 2015. "Technology-Based Growth Policies: The Case of North Carolina’s Green Business Fund," UNCG Economics Working Papers 15-1, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics.
    15. Haga Elimam, 2017. "The Role of Small Businesses (Small Scale Economic Projects) in Alleviating the Acuity of Unemployment," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(3), pages 120-132, March.
    16. Oliver Falck & Simon Wiederhold, 2013. "Demand-Oriented Innovation Policy: A Critical Review," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 51, April.
    17. Scott, John T. & Scott, Troy J., 2016. "The entrepreneur's idea and outside finance: Theory and evidence about entrepreneurial roles," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 118-130.
    18. Schneck, Stefan & May-Strobl, Eva, 2014. "The economic contribution of start-up firms in Germany," Working Papers 02/14, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    19. Felipe Rojas & Elena Huergo, 2016. "Characteristics of entrepreneurs and public support for NTBFs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 363-382, August.
    20. Link, Albert & Scott, John, 2017. "Toward an Assessment of the U.S. Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program at the National Institutes of Health," UNCG Economics Working Papers 17-6, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Albert N. Link & John T. Scott, 2013. "Employment growth from public support of innovation in small firms," Chapters, in: Public Support of Innovation in Entrepreneurial Firms, chapter 3, pages 41-64, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Haifeng Qian & Kingsley Haynes, 2014. "Beyond innovation: the Small Business Innovation Research program as entrepreneurship policy," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 524-543, August.
    3. Albert N. Link & John T. Scott, 2013. "Bending the Arc of Innovation: Public Support of R&D in Small, Entrepreneurial Firms," Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-37088-4, February.
    4. Barry Bozeman & Albert N. Link, 2015. "Toward an assessment of impacts from US technology and innovation policies," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(3), pages 369-376.
    5. Donald Siegel & Charles Wessner, 2012. "Universities and the success of entrepreneurial ventures: evidence from the small business innovation research program," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 37(4), pages 404-415, August.
    6. Feldman, Maryann & Johnson, Evan E. & Bellefleur, Remi & Dowden, Savannah & Talukder, Eshika, 2022. "Evaluating the tail of the distribution: the economic contributions of frequently awarded government R&D recipients," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(7).
    7. Engberg, Erik & Halvarsson, Daniel & Tingvall, Patrik, 2017. "Direct and Indirect Effects of Private- and Government Sponsored Venture Capital," Ratio Working Papers 288, The Ratio Institute.
    8. Reynold V. Galope, 2016. "A Different Certification Effect of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 30(4), pages 371-383, November.
    9. Hiroyasu Inoue & Eiichi Yamaguchi, 2017. "Evaluation of the Small Business Innovation Research Program in Japan," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(1), pages 21582440176, February.
    10. Toole, Andrew A. & Czarnitzki, Dirk, 2007. "Biomedical academic entrepreneurship through the SBIR program," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 63(4), pages 716-738, August.
    11. Frederico Roch, 2014. "Does Governmental Support To Innovation Have Positive Effect On R&D Investments? Evidence From Brazil," Anais do XLI Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 41st Brazilian Economics Meeting] 165, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    12. Massimo G. Colombo & Luca Grilli & Cinzia Verga, 2007. "High-tech Start-up Access to Public Funds and Venture Capital: Evidence from Italy," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 381-402.
    13. Scott, John T. & Scott, Troy J., 2016. "The entrepreneur's idea and outside finance: Theory and evidence about entrepreneurial roles," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 118-130.
    14. Koh, Yumi & Lee, Gea M., 2023. "R&D subsidies in permissive and restrictive environment: Evidence from Korea," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1).
    15. Anna Kochenkova & Rosa Grimaldi & Federico Munari, 2016. "Public policy measures in support of knowledge transfer activities: a review of academic literature," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 407-429, June.
    16. Dora Gicheva & Albert N. Link, 2013. "Leveraging entrepreneurship through private investments: does gender matter?," Chapters, in: Public Support of Innovation in Entrepreneurial Firms, chapter 10, pages 145-156, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Iman Seoudi, 2015. "Public Policy For Venture Capital: An Integrated Framework," Global Journal of Business Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 9(4), pages 31-51.
    18. Maribel Guerrero & Albert N. Link, 2022. "Public support of innovative activity in small and large firms in Mexico," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 413-422, June.
    19. Lauren Lanahan, 2016. "Multilevel public funding for small business innovation: a review of US state SBIR match programs," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 220-249, April.
    20. Lanahan, Lauren & Feldman, Maryann P., 2015. "Multilevel innovation policy mix: A closer look at state policies that augment the federal SBIR program," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(7), pages 1387-1402.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    small business research; employment growth; entrepreneurship; intellectual property;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J48 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Particular Labor Markets; Public Policy
    • L53 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Enterprise Policy
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ris:uncgec:2010_008. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Albert Link (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/edncgus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.