The Dye Famine and its Aftermath: Knowledge Diffusion and Entry STE-WP-32
Redefining Engineering Disciplines for the 21st Century
In the first quarter of the 20th Century engineering education underwent a revolutionary change as a result of the penetration of the exact sciences into the curriculum. Consequently, instead of teaching current technologies, engineering schools began teaching all-embracing fundamental principles of the engineering sciences that can cope with the quickly changing technologies. But, in the […]
Science and Technology in the Israeli Consciousness
We present the main results and conclusions of a public opinion survey concerning the attitudes of the Israeli public towards various aspects of science and technology (S&T) in Israeli society. The survey was done in January and is based on telephone interviews with a random sample of about 490 adults (18+) representing the entire Israeli […]
Venture Capitalists, Public Offerings or Strategic Investors? Financial Liquidation Profiles of Israeli Hi-Tech Firms STE-WP-31
The paper presents the concept of Firms’ Growth Profiles (FGPs) portraying the idea that the institutional environment confers upon firms a limited set of path-dependent growth options. The FGP concept is demonstrated by examining sequences of financial liquidation actions (raising funds from venture capitalists, through public offerings or from strategic investors) of Israeli Hi-Tech firms. […]
Investments in Higher Education and Economic Performance: Israel in an international perspective
The research investigates the relationship between investments in higher education and the economic performance of OECD countries through the use of a two-stage regression model and multivariate analysis. The findings suggest that an indirect relationship exists between higher education investments and economic growth. Evidence shows that higher education inputs translate into human capital outputs, and […]
What Affects Technion Faculty Members’ Decision to Found a Start-Up Firm? Effects of the Business Opportunity and the Entrepreneur’s (faculty)
While research has recognized the importance of the entrepreneurial opportunity evaluation (EOE) stage in affecting overall entrepreneurship activity, only venture capitalists (VCs) perspectives were explored. No research has attempted to understand the crucial and complementary role of entrepreneurs points of view. In an effort to fill this gap, the current study focuses on the entrepreneur […]
Start-up funding inefficiencies due to VC’s Limited horizon, STE-WP-29
We study the conflict of interests between limited partners (LPs) and a general partner (GP) in a VC fund with a limited life-span. LPs commit money for investment in risky projects, while the GP selects projects and provides unobservable monitoring effort for each project. We assume that midway into the project, the GP privately observes […]
From Ivory Tower to Industrial Promotion:The Case of Yale University and the Biotechnology Cluster in New Haven, Connecticut, STE-WP-28
In 2001 Ernst & Young ranked the state of Connecticut seventh in the nation with respect to the number of biotech firms operating within its borders relative to its population (Ernst & Young, 2001). In 1993 there were only six such companies in the state. What led to this increase? This case study describes the […]
Evolutionary Innovation and High Tech Policy: What can we Learn from Israel’s Targeting of Venture Capital STE-WP-25
The paper analyzes Israel’s Innovation and High Tech Policy from a Systems-Evolutionary (S/E) and Life Cycle Perspectives with a focusing on the targeting of the Venture Capital Industry during the 1990s. Other related research strongly suggested that the emergence of Venture Capital (VC) during that decade was a central vector in the re-configuration of Israel’s […]
Public vs. Private Technological Incubator Programs: Privatizing the Technological Incubators in Israel STE-WP-26

The Public Technological Incubator Program (PTIP) was initiated in the early nineties by the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) in the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Israel in the wake of a large influx of immigrants from the former USSR, many of whom were scientists and engineers. Since the year 2000, private technological […]