Centrality of government and universities to innovation in the United States: A social-networking analysis

This study explores research collaborations in the United States and the position government and
universities occupy in that space through the lens of social networks. Joint organizational patents
establish the network. Over time, a dense core of interconnected collaborators forms at the
network’s heart, surrounded by a periphery of isolated innovators or fragments of very limited
collaborations. Government and research institutes sit at the center of this core and act as hubs
through which connections sprawl out. The core goes through two waves of expansion in late 1980s
and 2000s. Federal laboratories are the main force behind both. The second wave also bears the
hallmarks of second academic revolution, with a larger share of university–industry link formation
and less government involvement. Technology also matters. Government and research
organizations have traditionally been central to complex and knowledge-intensive technologies
such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and chemistry. However, their outreach expands
especially during the second wave to cover a more diversified portfolio of technologies.