Abstract
So far, public research organizations (PROs) and universities in Germany are not benefiting from the manifold opportunities of crowdsourcing platforms and crowdfunding in particular. Crowdfunding may not only provide complementary financial resources for scientific projects, but it can also enhance the spectrum of science communication and facilitate the knowledge and technology transfer process. Consequently, scientists can use crowdfunding activities to stimulate the transfer of their knowledge to business and/or society to stimulate innovation. Nevertheless, it is a challenging task to apply the full spectrum of crowdsourcing instruments in PROs and universities. The crowdfunding literature rarely covers the untapped potential and challenges associated with crowdfunding for scientific institutions. In this conceptual paper, we provide approaches how PROs and universities can successfully acquire alternative financing, in particular from crowdfunding, and use it strategically. The aim is to provide solutions to pitfalls that may prevent researchers from exploiting crowdfunding in their “funding journey.” We introduce a model called “scientific cooperative crowdfunding” as a field for further research to explore how PROs and universities can use crowdfunding in a more comprehensive way during different stages of the knowledge and technology transfer process.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adamczyk, S. (2012). Managing innovation contests: Challenges of attraction and facilitation. Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg.
Ahlers, G. K. C., et al. (2015). Signaling in equity crowdfunding. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 39, 955–980.
Althoff, T., & Leskovec, J. (2015). Donor retention in online crowdfunding communities: A case study ofDonorsChoose.org. https://doi.org/10.1145/2736277.2741120.
Baeck, P., et al. (2016). Crowdfunding in the EU capital markets union EN. Commission Staff Working Document, 2016(September), 1–40.
Barr, S. H., Baker, T., & Marham, S. K. (2013). Bridging the valley of death: Lessons Learned from 14 years of commercialization of technology education. Academy of Management Education & Learning, 8(3), 370–388.
Behlau, L. (2017). Forschungsmanagement: Ein praktischer Leitfaden (De Gruyter Textbook). De Gruyter.
Belleflamme, P., Lambert, T., & Schwienbacher, A. (2014). Crowdfunding: Tapping the right crowd. Journal of Business Venturing, 29(5), 585–609. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2013.07.003.
Bijedic, T., et al. (2015). Der Einfluss institutioneller Rahmenbedingungen auf die Gründungsneigung von Wissenschaftlern an deutschen Hochschulen. IIfM-Materialien, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM), No. 233. Bonn.
Bijedic, T., et al. (2017). Mind the gap: Institutional and individual antecedents of entrepreneurial trajectories in the academic context. IfM Bonn Working Paper 03/17. Bonn.
Block, J., Hornuf, L., & Moritz, A. (2018). Which updates during an equity crowdfunding campaign increase crowd participation? Small Business Economics, 50(1), 3–27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-017-9876-4.
BMBF. (2014). The German research landscape. Accessed from https://www.research-in-germany.org/en/research-landscape.html
BMBF. (2018). Citizen Science – BMBF. Accessed August 15, 2018, from https://www.bmbf.de/de/citizen-science-wissenschaft-erreicht-die-mitte-der-gesellschaft-225.html
BMWi. (2018a) KIT: Crowdfunding-plattform unter eigener Regie? Das Beispiel KITcrowd. Accessed August 15, 2018, from https://www.exist.de/DE/Campus/Gruendergeist/Gruendergeist-Campus/Crowdfunding/inhalt.html
BMWi. (2018b). Universität Kassel: Crowdfunding-Kooperation. Accessed August 15, 2018, from https://www.exist.de/DE/Campus/Gruendergeist/Gruendergeist-Campus/Universitaet-Kassel/inhalt.html
Bonabeau, E. (2009). Decisions 2.0: The power of collective intelligence. MIT Sloan Management Review, 50(2), 45–52.
Bonfadelli, H., et al. (2017). Forschungsfeld Wissenschaftskommunikation. Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-12898-2.
Busch, C., & Matuschka, A. v. (2016). Abschlussbericht “SIGNO-Crowdfunding”.
Bürger schaffen Wissen. (2016). Citizen science strategie 2020 für Deutschland. Accessed from www.buergerschaffenwissen.de
Byrnes, J. E. K., et al. (2014). To crowdfund research, scientists must build an audience for their work. PLoS One, 9(12), e110329. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0110329.
Cha, A. E. (2015). Crowdfunding propels scientific research. The Washington Post. Accessed from https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/crowdfunding-…
Chesbrough, H. W. (2003a). Open innovation: The new imperative for creating and profiting from technology. Harvard Business School Press. Accessed August 26, 2018, from https://books.google.de/books/about/Open_Innovation.html?id=4hTRWStFhVgC&redir_esc=y
Chesbrough, H. W. (2003b). The era of open innovation. MIT Sloan Management Review, 44(3), 35–42.
Chlosta, S., et al. (2017). Gründungserfolg von Wissenschaftlern an deutschen Hochschulen. 257.
Comin, D., et al. (2018). Do companies benefit from public research organizations? The impact of Fraunhofer.
Daimer, S., et al. (2014). Begleitende Evaluierung der Fördermaßnahme “Validierung des Innovationspotenzials wissenschaftlicher Forschung – VIP”. Accessed from http://www.isi.fraunhofer.de/isi-wAssets/docs/p/de/publikationen/2014-07-15-VIP-Bericht-Gesamtdokument.pdf
Dornbusch, F., et al. (2016). Die Bedeutung der Fraunhofer Gesellschaft für den deutschen Mittelstand – Eine Bestandsaufnahme und Empfehlungen zur Intensivierung der Zusammenarbeit.
Du, J., Leten, B., & Vanhaverbeke, W. (2014). Managing open innovation projects with science-based and market-based partners. Research Policy, 43(5), 828–840. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2013.12.008.
Ebner, W. (2008). Community building for innovations – Der Ideenwettbewerb als Methode für die Entwicklung und Einführung einer virtuellen Innovations-Gemeinschaft.
Economist. (2018). The new space race. The Economist. https://doi.org/10.1049/et.2014.1007
Etzkowitz, H. (2013). Anatomy of the entrepreneurial university. Social Science Information, 52(3), 486–511. https://doi.org/10.1177/0539018413485832.
Etzkowitz, H., & Leydesdorff, L. (2000). The dynamics of innovation: from National Systems and ‘Mode 2’ to a Triple Helix of university–industry–government relations. Research Policy, 29(2), 109–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0048-7333(99)00055-4.
European Commission. (2017). Assessing the potential for crowdfunding and other forms of alternative finance to support research and innovation. European Commission.
European Parliamentary Research Service. (2017, January). Crowdfunding in Europe, 58, 44–71.
Felin, T., & Zenger, T. R. (2014). Closed or open innovation? Problem solving and the governance choice. Research Policy, 43(5), 914–925. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2013.09.006.
Fischer, L., & Pohle, A. (2018, June). Managing the fuzzy front end in research organizations (pp. 1–14).
Franke, N., von Hippel, E., & Schreier, M. (2006). Finding commercially attractive user innovations: A test of lead-user theory∗. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 23(4), 301–315. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5885.2006.00203.x.
Franzoni, C., & Sauermann, H. (2014). Crowd science: The organization of scientific research in open collaborative projects. Research Policy, 43(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2013.07.005.
Fraunhofer IMW. (2018). Innofinanz (Sondierungsvorhaben) – unveröffentlichter Zwischenbericht.
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. (2017). Jahresbericht 2017 – Arbeitswelt der Zukunft.
Frietsch, R., et al. (2016). Der Beitrag der Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zum deutschen Innovationssystem.
Füller, J., et al. (2006). Community based innovation: How to integrate members of virtual communities into new product development. Electronic Commerce Research, 6(1), 57–73. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-006-5988-7.
Füller, J., et al. (2017). The Role of Professionalism in Innovation Contest Communities. Long Range Planning, 50(2), 243–259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2015.12.017.
Fumagalli, D. C., & Gouw, A. M. (2015). Crowdfunding for personalized medicine research. Accessed from http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/19/us-health-se-
Gemeinsame Wissenschaftskonferenz. (2015). Pakt für Forschung und Innovation – Fortschreibung 2016–2020 (p. 65).
Goldstein, J. A., & Hazy, J. K. (2006). Editorial introduction to the special issue: From complexity to leadership and back to complexity, 8(4).
Gray, R. (2015). Crowdfunded science: Harnessing the wisdom of the crowd, or selling out? (pp. 1–5).
Guo, D., Guo, Y., & Jiang, K. (2016). Government-subsidized R&D and firm innovation: Evidence from China. Research Policy, 45(6), 1129–1144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2016.03.002.
Hachmeister, D.-C., Duong, S., & Roessler, I. (2015). Hemmnisse und Fördermöglichkeiten für Forschung und Third Mission an Fachhochschulen.
Hagedorn, A., & Pinkwart, A. (2013). Crowdinvesting as a financing instrument for startups in germany – A critical platform analysis. HHL Working Paper. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.2625.3045
Harzer, A. (2013). Erfolgsfaktoren im Crowdfunding, Menschen -Märkte - Medien - Management: Schriftenreihe. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-17153-7_4
Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft. (2018). Citizen science. Accessed August 15, 2018, from https://www.helmholtz.de/transfer/wissenstransfer/citizen_science/
Hopp, C., & Kaminski, J. C. (2016, August). Are lead users more successful crowdfunders?.
Hopp, C., & Kaminski, J. (2018). Crowdfunding für Innovationen – unveröffentlichter Zwischbericht im Rahmen des Verbundvorhabens Innofinanz (Sondierungsvorhaben).
Howe, J. (2006). The rise of crowdsourcing. Wired Magazine, 14(06), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1086/599595.
Hui, J. S., & Gerber, E. M. (2015). Crowdfunding science: Sharing research with an extended audience. https://doi.org/10.1145/2675133.2675188
Hui, J. S., Gerber, E. M., & Gergle, D. (2014). Understanding and leveraging social networks for crowdfunding: Opportunities and challenges (pp. 2083–2088). Proc. DIS 2014. https://doi.org/10.1145/2559206.2581289
Jäger, L., & Mathes, C. (2015). Crowdfunding für Hochschulen (German edition). Books on Demand.
Javier Miranda, F., et al. (n.d.). Re-thinking university spin-off: A critical literature review and a research agenda. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 43(4), 1007–1038. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-017-9647-z.
Jovanović, T., Bansemir, B., & Kirchner, M. (2017). The crowdfunding idea contest of BMW. International association for management of technology IAMOT 2017 conference proceedings.
Kaminski, J., et al. (2017). Do user entrepreneurs speak different? Applying natural language processing to crowdfunding videos (pp. 2683–2689). 2017 ACM SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems, CHI EA 2017, Part F1276. https://doi.org/10.1145/3027063.3053223
Kessler, S. (2015). Georgia tech launches its own crowdfunding site for science research. Fast Company Newsletter. Accessed from https://www.fastcompany.com/3016767/georgia-tech-launches-its-own-…
Kickstarter. (2018). Kickstarter statistics. Accessed August 15, 2018, from https://www.kickstarter.com/help/stats?lang=de
Lagazio, C., & Querci, F. (2018). Exploring the multi-sided nature of crowdfunding campaign success. Journal of Business Research, 90(May), 318–324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.05.031.
Lam, A. (2010). From ‘ivory tower traditionalists’ to ‘entrepreneurial scientists’?: Academic scientists in fuzzy university-industry boundaries. Social Studies of Science, 40, 307–340. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312709349963.
Lam, A. (2011). What motivates academic scientists to engage in research commercialization: ‘Gold’, ‘ribbon’ or ‘puzzle’? Research Policy, 40(10), 1354–1368. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.RESPOL.2011.09.002.
Lam, A., & Lambermont-Ford, J. P. (2010). Knowledge sharing in organisational contexts: A motivation-based perspective. Journal of Knowledge Management, 14(1), 51–66. https://doi.org/10.1108/13673271011015561.
Li, F. W., & Pryer, K. M. (2014). Crowdfunding the Azolla fern genome project: A grassroots approach. GigaScience, 3(1), 4–7. https://doi.org/10.1186/2047-217X-3-16.
Liang, T.-P., Wu, S. P.-J., & Huang, C. (2019). Why funders invest in crowdfunding projects: Role of trust from the dual-process perspective. Information & Management, 56(1), 70–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2018.07.002.
Lifshitz-Assaf, H. (2017). Dismantling knowledge boundaries at NASA: The critical role of professional identity in open innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 63, 746–782. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001839217747876.
Lipusch, N., Bretschneider, U., & Leimeister, J. M. (2017). Crowdfunding zur Gründungsfinanzierung von Startups aus dem universitären Bereich. Crowd Entrepreneurship, 189–214. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-17031-8_11.
Liu, Y., & Huang, Q. (2018). University capability as a micro-foundation for the Triple Helix model: The case of China. Technovation, 76–77(February), 40–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2018.02.013.
Loikkanen, T., Hyytinen, K., & Konttinen, J. (2011). Public research and technology organisations in transition-the case of Finland. Science, Technology and Society, 16(1), 75–98. https://doi.org/10.1177/097172181001600105.
Mankins, J. C. (1995). Technology readiness levels. White Paper April. https://doi.org/10.1080/08956308.2010.11657640.
Marlett, D. (2015). Crowdfunding art, science and technology: A quick survey of the burgeoning new landscape. Leonardo, 48(1), 104–105. https://doi.org/10.1162/LEON_a_00813.
Maurer, I. (2010). How to build trust in inter-organizational projects: The impact of project staffing and project rewards on the formation of trust, knowledge acquisition and product innovation. International Journal of Project Management, 28(7), 629–637. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2009.11.006.
Mollick, E. (2014). The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study. Journal of Business Venturing, 29(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2013.06.005.
Moritz, A., Block, J., & Lutz, E. (2015). Investor communication in equity-based crowdfunding: A qualitative-empirical study. Qualitative Research in Financial Markets., 7(3), 309–342. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRFM-07-2014-0021.
Müller, K. (2010). Academic spin-off’s transfer speed-Analyzing the time from leaving university to venture. Research Policy, 39(2), 189–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2009.12.001.
Nemet, G. F., Zipperer, V., & Kraus, M. (2018). The valley of death, the technology pork barrel, and public support for large demonstration projects. Energy Policy, 119(April), 154–167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.04.008.
Ordanini, A., et al. (2011). Crowd-funding: Transforming customers into investors through innovative service platforms. Journal of Service Management, 22(4), 443–470. https://doi.org/10.1108/09564231111155079.
Poetz, M. K., & Schreier, M. (2012). The value of crowdsourcing: Can users really compete with professionals in generating new product ideas? Journal of Product Innovation Management, 29(2), 245–256. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5885.2011.00893.x.
Roma, P., Messeni Petruzzelli, A., & Perrone, G. (2017). From the crowd to the market: The role of reward-based crowdfunding performance in attracting professional investors. Research Policy, 46(9), 1606–1628. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2017.07.012.
Saguy, S. I. (2011). Academia-industry Innovation Interaction: Paradigm shifts and avenues for the future. Procedia Food Science, 1(Icef 11), 1875–1882. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.profoo.2011.09.275.
Sauerhammer, M. (2015). Wie Universitäten und Gründerzentren Crowdfunding einsetzen. Accessed August 15, 2018, from https://www.startnext.com/blog/Blog-Detailseite/wie-universitaeten-und-gruenderzentren-crowdfunding-einsetzen~ba1073.html
Sauermann, H., & Franzoni, C. (2015). Crowd science user contribution patterns and their implications. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(3), 679–684. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1408907112.
Sauermann, H., Franzoni, C., & Shafi, K. (2018). Crowdfunding scientific research. NBER working paper series 24402. Accessed from http://www.nber.org/papers/w24402
Schäfer, M. S., et al. (2018). Selling science 2.0: What scientific projects receive crowdfunding online? Public Understanding of Science, 27(5), 496–514. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662516668771.
Seedmatch. (2017). Oncgnostics: “Die Großen gehen dazu über, vielversprechende kleine Firmen zu kaufen.” Seedmatch-Blog (Interview). Accessed from http://blog.seedmatch.de/oncgnostics-die-grossen-gehen-dazu-ueber-vielversprechende-kleine-firmen-zu-kaufen/
Siegel, D. S., et al. (2003). Commercial knowledge transfers from universities to firms: Improving the effectiveness of university–industry collaboration. The Journal of High Technology Management Research, 14(1), 111–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1047-8310(03)00007-5.
Siu, P., Tseng, M. M., & Hoyt, D. (2010). Shanzhai (‘Bandit’) mobile phone companies: The Guerrilla warfare of product development.
Snyder, J., Mathers, A., & Crooks, V. A. (2016). Fund my treatment!: A call for ethics-focused social science research into the use of crowdfunding for medical care. Social Science and Medicine, 169, 27–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.09.024.
Soetanto, D., & Van Geenhuizen, M. (2015). Getting the right balance: University networks’ influence on spin-offs’ attraction of funding for innovation. Technovation, 36, 26–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2014.10.008.
Solemon, B., et al. (2013). A review of the uses of crowdsourcing in higher education. International Journal of Asian Social Science, 3(9), 2066–2073.
Tröger, T. H. (2017). Remarks on the German regulation of crowdfunding EBI working paper series.
Urban, G. L., & von Hippel, E. (1988). Lead user analyses for the development of new industrial products. Management Science, 34(5), 569–582. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.34.5.569.
Vachelard, J., et al. (2016). A guide to scientific crowdfunding. PLoS Biology, 14(2), e1002373. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002373.
von Hippel, E. (1986). Lead users: A source of novel product concepts. Management Science, 32(7), 791–805.
Wang, D. (2016, June). Corporate crowdfunding as a marketing communication tool (pp. 1–81).
Wehnert, P., Baccarella, C. V., & Beckmann, M. (2018). In crowdfunding we trust? Investigating crowdfunding success as a signal for enhancing trust in sustainable product features. Technological Forecasting and Social Change (July 2017), pp. 0–1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.06.036
West, J., Vanhaverbeke, W., & Chesbrough, H. (2006). Open innovation: A research agenda. In Open innovation: Researching a new paradigm. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wheat, R. E., et al. (2013). Raising money for scientific research through crowdfunding. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 28(2), 71–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2012.11.001.
Wissenschaft im Dialog. (2018). Accessed from https://www.wissenschaft-im-dialog.de/
Ziegler, T., et al. (2018). Expanding horizons: The 3rd European alternative finance industry report. SSRN. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3106911
Zuchowski, O., et al. (2016). Internal crowdsourcing: Conceptual framework, structured review, and research agenda. Journal of Information Technology, 31(2), 166–184. https://doi.org/10.1057/jit.2016.14.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Daldrup, V., Krahl, O., Bürger, R. (2020). Is Crowdfunding Suitable for Financing German Public Research Organization (PRO) Projects?. In: Moritz, A., Block, J.H., Golla, S., Werner, A. (eds) Contemporary Developments in Entrepreneurial Finance. FGF Studies in Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17612-9_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17612-9_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-17611-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-17612-9
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)