THE ECONOMIC-IMPACT OF CANADIAN UNIVERSITY RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT

Canadian university research expenditures and those of graduate studen ts produce a gross static economic impact upon the Canadian gross dome stic product (GDP) which considerably overestimates the net static imp act of university research. Moreover, the net static impact, because i t keeps constant the economic structure and the productivity of factor s of production, does not account for the principal beneficial impact of university research-the building of human capital and the transfer of knowledge (technology). All of this leads to an increase in product ivity and, thus, in the size of the GDP. This effect is called the dyn amic impact. This article, besides comparing succinctly the gross impa ct with the net static impact, develops a practical method to measure the dynamic impact of university research. In a way, this method provi des another benchmark, besides the peer review, to judge the relevance of university R&D. (c) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved .