Academic inventiveness and entrepreneurship: is there a relationship between science and technology fields and the utilization of academic inventions in start-up companies?

There is a rich research literature developing on academic entrepreneurship. One of the areas not specifically covered is the extent to which academic entrepreneurship is a phenomenon that occurs in certain science fields rather than in others. We explore this issue drawing on data from a study of academic inventors and their patents. We find that academic start-up companies differ in importance from field to field. They play a stronger role in life and natural sciences than in engineering and materials. However, large firms remain the most important users of academic inventions in any of the science domains we studied.