This paper studies the impact on innovation and entrepreneur activities of the Technology Transfer Law in China, which increased incentives for professors to commercialize their research. We find that the law significantly increased patent applications and reduced the research publications of faculty with greater potential to commercialize their research. Thanks to the reform, among professors who ever had a patent, professors who collaborated with a company prior to the reform on at least 3 patents had more than 1.45 patents per year ( or 0.92 invention patent). In addition, professors who collaborated with a company prior to the reform had fewer publications after the reform. Compared to professors who never patented before 2015, professors who ever patented before 2015 published 0.98...[ Read more ]

This paper studies the impact on innovation and entrepreneur activities of the Technology Transfer Law in China, which increased incentives for professors to commercialize their research. We find that the law significantly increased patent applications and reduced the research publications of faculty with greater potential to commercialize their research. Thanks to the reform, among professors who ever had a patent, professors who collaborated with a company prior to the reform on at least 3 patents had more than 1.45 patents per year ( or 0.92 invention patent). In addition, professors who collaborated with a company prior to the reform had fewer publications after the reform. Compared to professors who never patented before 2015, professors who ever patented before 2015 published 0.98 less papers each year on average after 2015.