How does openness affect academic production? Empirical evidence from the National Key Laboratories of China

By using data on 204 National Key Laboratories of China during the period 2006-2009, this paper investigates how openness influences scientific innovation and technological innovation, which are measured by publications and patents respectively at the laboratory level. The results of the estimation of negative binomial regression models indicate that: the links with industry, international cooperation, and the proportion of non-permanent staff all have significant effects on publication output, and both the links with industry and the proportion of non-permanent staff have a U-shape relationship with publication output, while international cooperation has an inverted U-shape with publication output. International cooperation and the proportion of non-permanent staff also have significant effects on patent output, and international cooperation has an inverted U-shape with patent output, while the proportion of non-permanent researchers is negatively associated with patent output. This paper also reveals the relationship between scientific innovation and technological innovation. Relevant policy suggestions are put forward on how to improve scientific and technological innovation of public research organizations from the perspective of open innovation model.