University Invention, Entrepreneurship, and Start-Ups

This paper develops a game-theoretic model that predicts when a university invention is commercialized in a start-up firm rather than an established firm. The model predicts that university inventions are more likely to occur in start-ups when the technology transfer officers search cost is high, the cost of development or commercialization is lower for a start-up, or the inventors effort cost in development is lower in a start-up.