From Big Firms To Startups: Roles in Innovation

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This is a summary of a story that originally appeared on Duke Fuqua School of Business.

Sharon Belenzon, a strategy scholar at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, says that to understand today’s innovation, one must first realize how innovation has changed in the United States.

Belenzon has reviewed historical evidence, beginning with post-World War II and through the 1970s and 1980s, and determined that large companies have traditionally solved big challenges for the government. He describe the period as the “golden age of research and development.”

However, on a recent Fuqua Insights podcast, the strategy scholar discussed how the United States could deploy its innovation ecosystem to solve society’s biggest scientific and technological challenges.

Belenzon explained how different entities — universities, startups and large corporations — can work together to alchemize science into products that are useful. Belenzon noted that these specialized models have resulted in important successes in some sectors, including life sciences, where different organizations contribute their expertise.

“Policymakers should avoid treating all large firms the same,” he added. “Instead, they should identify those that serve as anchors for scientific and technological progress.”

Listen to the podcast on Duke Fuqua School of Business.