Each of the fifty U.S. states has adopted science and innovation policy initiatives aimed at improving economic performance. These policies seek to leverage the research capacities of universities in the state, under the logic that those institutions are essential actors in both increasing the state's prominence as a center for technological and scientific progress and building the state's commercialization infrastructure to facilitate entrepreneurship and firm growth. States have become increasingly active in science policy since the 1980s. Unfortunately, there have been few attempts systematically to study the origins of these policies and the nature of the incentives and mechanisms they provide. Archival records of state programs exist but remain difficult to categorize. Relatedly, little attention has been paid to how individual states' policies relate to the states' socioeconomic, institutional, and academic contexts. Finally, although these policies attempt to leverage universities and move research in specific directions, little is known about how universities are in fact being affected. To address these knowledge gaps, this study utilizes multidisciplinary theoretical models, extensive longitudinal datasets, and a mix of econometric and case-study methods to examine four research questions regarding state science policy initiatives: (1) Origins: When and why do states adopt science and innovation policies involving universities? (2) Nature: How might state science and innovation policies be systematically described, categorized, and differentiated? (3) Fit: To what extent have state policymakers matched their science and innovation policies to their states' and universities' distinctive characteristics? 4) University effects: What impacts have state science and innovation policy initiatives had on both public and private universities in the state? This study formulates and investigates multidisciplinary theoretical models to examine how state science and innovation policies come to be formed, how those policies might be systematically described, categorized, and compared, how the policies fit with the states' distinctive socioeconomic and institutional contexts, and how the policies subsequently affect organizational structures, processes, and research capacity of universities in those states. Thus, the project is designed to build understanding of not only why states and institutions have acted the way they have but also, perhaps even more fundamentally, the range of potential state actions possible, the reasoning behind them, and their likely effects. At the same time, this study is designed to inform policy development and for the development of understanding and infrastructure for future projects. Questions about the origins, nature, fit, and university effects of state science and innovation policies are certainly not trivial. State policy initiatives hold prospects for stimulating innovation and broader economic development, but they pose trade-offs against other state priorities. State efforts to develop markets for knowledge may significantly alter university incentive systems and behaviors in ways that may threaten prospects for innovation and continued U.S. competitiveness. Until researchers begin to conduct informed across-state and across-institution analyses, state officials will continue to invest in science and innovation policies without sufficient information on the range of potential alternative choices and their implications. Ultimately, of course, states are interested in the implications of their policies on economic growth. Effectively addressing those ultimate outcomes depend upon first understanding the intermediate issues addressed in the four research questions outlined here. This study is designed to provide foundational models for subsequent, comprehensive investigation of the longer-term economic influences of states' investments in science and innovation policies.
