Intellectual property governance and academic technology transfer

The existing literature on IP governance exhibits three notable limitations. First, it predominantly focuses on IP protection and management, while attention to acquisition and service remains limited. Second, few studies have approached the mechanisms through which IP governance exerts influence by considering the distinct elements within innovation system. Third, existing analyses often focus on knowledge production, with insufficient consideration of the subsequent commercialization, especially for academic technology outputs that remain latent. Here, grounded in the activity-process view, this study disaggregates IP governance into distinct modules. Drawing on innovation diffusion theory, it further constructs analytical framework that encompasses nodes, interactive relationships, and environment. Empirically, employing spatial difference-in-differences, the impact of China's National Intellectual Property Rights Demonstration City (NIPRDC) on patents transferred from academia (PTA patents) is assessed. The key findings are as follows: (1) NIPRDC significantly boosts the scale and share of urban PTA patents, with results remaining valid through endogeneity and robustness checks. (2) Causal mediation analysis indicates that the "Interactive relationship" (research collaboration) is the dominant mechanism, contributing 83.6 %. The "Innovator" (university innovation capability) and "Adopter" (enterprise absorption capability) mechanisms follow, with explanatory power ranging from 53.1 % to 62.0 %. The "Environment" mechanism, represented by digitization and IP intermediaries, contributes relatively less, accounting for 11.0 %–28.8 %. (3) The policy effect differs by batch and region, with greater impact in developed, innovative cities, while also triggering spatial spillovers that boost academic technology transfers nearby.