From divergent meanings to common practices: Institutionalization processes and the commercialization of university research

This study addresses how the commercialization of academic research became integrated into the university setting and became perceived as normal part of conducting science. I analyze the processes that advanced and supported the expansion of commercializing science within the academy and the consequences for training and research. To capture how the conditions underlying entrepreneurial science developed, I examine three organizational layers: the Office of Technology Licensing (OTL), a basic life science department, and scientists' laboratories. I focus on practices that were commonplace in research laboratories, and the linkage of these activities to the reward system of science. I argue that the normative order of science was not fixed, but instead offered room for multiple interpretations that shaped what actions were possible, how credit was applied, and how careers were pursued. In the interactions between senior faculty, their research teams, and the OTL, conventions about technology transfer policy emerged that permeated core aspects of research and training, and extended the domain of academic science further into the emerging biotechnology industry.