University and Techno-Parks Administrations’ Policies on The Development of The Intellectual Property Rights

Abstract

This study aims to articulate the importance of how university and technology parks administrations have affected the development of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in the changing environment of Turkish universities. The forty-five participants were selected from different startups at the university technology parks. Using a phenomenological analysis, seven research questions were answered in semi-structured interviews. The collected data were analyzed in Atlas.ti in order to make a more in-depth study. As a result, the data shows that the university and
technology parks administrations have inevitably affected the IPR system in many ways. The transformation process of universities becoming more “entrepreneurial” has affected academicians and students to a greater degree. The academic profession, which is an umbrella term for working conditions for academics, has changed a lot. Most (85%) of the participants clarify that the university administration would develop a better network in order to increase the patent activities. Most (81%) claim that competitiveness is important not only for the universities bot also for the academic people so that the university administration would change their performance criteria to prepare properly for the competitive
global market.. As a result, as most (91%) participants clarify that the university’s administration plays an important and crucial role in controlling and managing these conflicts and inequalities to protect all the stakeholders, particularly those who do not have a strong background, like the PhD students.