INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS AND COMMERCIALISATION OF UNIVERSITY RESEARCH OUTPUTS AND INNOVATIONS IN UGANDA

Abstract

The rising thrust to commercialize university research outputs and innovations has emerged as a significant policy challenge regarding the higher education sector's capacity to generate socioeconomic benefit. Despite emphasizing the socio-economic benefits of increased research commercialization in the policy statements and discussions, the issue of institutional factors affecting the commercialization of research outputs in universities is less mentioned. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the institutional factors, practices, and processes that influence the commercialization of research outputs in universities. A cross-sectional design was adopted and data was collected from a sample of 308 heads of academic departments in 23 chartered Universities in Uganda. The hypothesis was tested using a covariance-based Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) method in AMOS. The results indicate that institutional factors have a significant impact on the commercialization of research outputs. Therefore, there is a need for research commercialization policies such as policies on patents, and revenue-sharing frameworks in addition to training researchers in entrepreneurial skills and involving the whole change of mindset. In addition, universities need to institutionalize research commercialization targets into the performance management framework of staff such as staff appraisals, rewards, and promotions among others.