Entrepreneurial experiments in science policy: Analyzing the Human Genome Project
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Murray_Entrepreneurial experiments.pdf
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607.67 KB
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Adobe PDF
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41b989cca5d3e60f282ff1da7efbe883
Author(s)
Huang, Kenneth G.
Murray, Fiona E.
Date Issued
June 2010
Journal
Research Policy
Publisher
Elsevier
Citation
Huang, Kenneth G., and Fiona E. Murray. “Entrepreneurial Experiments in Science Policy: Analyzing the Human Genome Project.” Research Policy 39.5 (2010) : 567-582.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
We re-conceptualize the role of science policy makers, envisioning and illustrating their move from being simple investors in scientific projects to entrepreneurs who create the conditions for entrepreneurial experiments and initiate them. We argue that reframing science policy around the notion of conducting entrepreneurial experiments – experiments that increase the diversity of technical, organizational and institutional arrangements in which scientific research is conducted – can provide policy makers with a wider repertoire of effective interventions. To illustrate the power of this approach, we analyze the Human Genome Project (HGP) as a set of successful, entrepreneurial experiments in organizational and institutional innovation. While not designed as such, the HGP was an experiment in funding a science project across a variety of organizational settings, including seven public and one private (Celera) research centers. We assess the major characteristics and differences between these organizational choices, using a mix of qualitative and econometric analyses to examine their impact on scientific progress. The planning and direction of the Human Genome Project show that policy makers can use the levers of entrepreneurial experimentation to transform scientific progress, much as entrepreneurs have transformed economic progress.
MIT Department
Sloan School of Management
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2010.02.004
