ANÁLISIS DE LAS CARACTERÍSTICAS DEL CONSUMIDOR

We now turn to education and training, which is a step related to both academic research and the environment discussed above. We primarily examine education and training from the perspective of academic research, and do so by focusing on PhD theses and Master theses. The sources are the self-reported assessments as well as more subjective illustrations from the interviews. However, these individuals also represent a key type of flow of information and knowledge between actors in the SSIs. Therefore, we have also gathered more in-depth information on one research school, LiFT, in

terms of where the students get jobs, including linkages to the industrial partners.56

About 60 percent of the projects reported the project had influenced graduate students in terms of leading to one or more master theses, and/or involving projects with PhD students. The actual figures are a bit hard to assess. On the one hand, the actual numbers may be higher still, since several projects were not asked to explicitly report on master theses and PhDs. On the other hand, PhD students in technical subjects are generally financed by grants, and we can expect that their financing also came from additional financiers. Given that the figures could easily go up (if all included) or down (if only the percentage financed by these projects are included), we feel it is reasonable to assume that at least about 60 percent did lead to effects on education and training in terms of Master and PhD students.

Master theses in Sweden are commonly done with companies, especially in technical subjects, but they can also be conducted solely within the research environment. About half of the programs report one or more master theses, being conducted within the framework of the two programs studied here. These theses can be important to different actors, and to linkages between them.

One illustration that we have shows that the Master thesis can lead to the initial probing of a new idea or area. Such a Master project can probe an area of interest to both academic and industrial partners, and then lead on to new projects. The illustration comes from a project dealing with

fermentation in grain.57 The idea behind the project was conceived of about fifteen years ago and hence before the current project (in Innovative Food) was started. This idea formed the basis for a Master thesis many years later, and the academic results of this Master thesis were deemed interesting enough to pursue further. This in turn led to a patent application and the founding of a firm, Olligon, in 2001. The two Master students were

employed by the firm, and some aspects of the ideas formed the basis for a project within the VINNOVA program. Additional projects studied here also indicate that working on Master thesis is a way to signal interest in continuing as PhD students in subsequent projects. In some cases, it is possible to track through names of participants in project reports, where we can see how Master students in early projects participate as PhD-students in

56 _{Hence, this aspect is not visible in Table 5.1 and our discussion of academic research. It}

is very interesting, however, as a bridge to the discussion about the perspective of industry, found in the next section.

57 _{P20105 – Nutritionella effekter av nya livsmedel från svampförädlade spannmål. The}

later projects. This long-term continuation of projects and the hiring and training of researchers is thus one important mechanism behind the cumulative development of actors’ competencies and of creating and intensifying linkages in the innovation system.

PhD students were involved in about half of the 56 projects (45%) for which we have information. However, many fewer projects report that the project funding was actually the cause for hiring a new PhD, or that the project funded a whole PhD. One reason for this (as indicated above) is that PhD students in these subjects are often employees of the universities, and hence require significant sources of funding for long periods of time (4 to 6 years on average). Hence, one could hardly expect that the VINNOVA project funded a whole PhD project, also given the relatively small scale of most projects.

Some projects can be found that report on a dissertation as a project result, and where the project likely provided funding for the larger part of those dissertations. In one case, for example, a company initiated a project in collaboration with a university partner. This student worked for the company prior to embarking on her doctoral studies. More often, though, PhD students reoccur across several projects suggesting that specific projects form parts of research environments’, as well as individual students’, larger research themes.

There is little general information reported in the projects about what happens to PhD-students after dissertation. We have examined one project, the LiFT-program, which has tracked many of their PhD’s occupations and positions after they obtained their PhD degree58. LiFT was started in the late 1990s, and after program completion in 2004 it has continued as a research school under the direction of three universities and in close collaboration with the Swedish Food Federation. The list includes a total of 58 doctoral or licentiate defenses. For eleven persons no information was available and they are therefore not on the following table (which is based on information from September 2008).

LiFT PhD students – as counted from defenses from 2001 through 2008 – have been employed in the following places (see Table 5.6).

Table 5.6. LiFT PhD students later employment (at time of reporting)

Company University, research

institute

Regulatory, branch and other organization

27 11 9

Table 5.6 thus indicates that the PhD students have been employed in many parts of society. The companies involved are quite diverse. Twenty-one of the companies may be described as more food-related, including, food companies such as Swedish Oat Fiber and Atria Lithells, equipment and packaging producers such as Tetra Pak and Ecolean Development, and analysis companies such as Lantmännen Analycen. The remaining six companies are pharmaceutical or medtech companies such as AstraZeneca and Mölnlycke Health Care. About 25 percent continued to work in academia after PhD, primarily in the Gothenburg and Lund regions. The final category relates to more or less food-related organizations, ranging from Uppsala Livsmedelscentrum and SVA to the Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV).

The interviews also provide additional information. The university

researchers that have supervised many PhD-students state that most of them have remained in the food industry, either within academia, firms, or

government institutes or agencies. However, for those who remain in academia it usually takes a 5-10 years before they manage to create their own platform. In the meantime, their research unit, or the university they belong to, must be willing to finance them and this is increasingly difficult with reductions in fixed based financing, although the creation of new, large centers counterweight this to some extent. That there are few positions within academia, and more so in institutes, for new PhDs, contributes to the problem.

While PhDs do move on to industry, some industry representatives also point to difficulties for PhDs to be hired to continue their line of research within the firms. Representatives of two different firms say that for their company to actually hire a PhD-student after dissertation to continue on the research project, the results of the project need to be very, very interesting even if the company was involved in the PhD-project. There is simply no room within the company to hire someone to continue experiment. If they are to hire a PhD on the basis of his/her results, these results must clearly point to commercially interesting applications. Both interviewees view this as a disadvantage and would like to see some form of post doc position that could be jointly financed by firms and the state to overcome it.

5.2.3 Publications and conferences

The majority of the projects report one or several papers published in scientific journals, and/or that conference papers, reports or book chapters have been published on the basis of results from the projects. 11 of the 56 projects that report on results, report no publications or conference

presentations at all. In at least three of these projects, scientific publications are a likely future result as the projects are still very recent or even ongoing.

As for the other projects these were either planning studies, or projects that were of a more practical nature. An example of the latter kind of projects is a project aimed to construct an Internet webpage for the Food industry. The interviews also show that at least some of the papers resulting from the projects have been published in top ranked journals. One of the projects, for example, tested a well-established hypothesis regarding the effects of whole grain on health in a large-scale study on humans.59 The results could, however, not confirm the hypothesis. The “negative” results surprised the researchers, and also earned them a publication in one of the top ranked journals in the field.

Apart from the purely academic merits and knowledge diffusion, the publications are sometimes also important for the legitimacy and publicity they can provide companies. Research documentation may be necessary to legitimize claims and to gain publicity needed in order to be able to sell products. We expect this to be particularly true for nutritional foods, given the expected health benefits. Moreover, if results are published, they may well draw attention. In a project aimed to form the basis of a new product line for consistency optimized food for elderly,60 research was related to international expansion. The research documentation provided the whole company unit for special foods with a firmer scientific base which was important for sales on export markets.

Another aspect from a company point of view is publications, and hence publicity, may help generate value already early in the project. As one firm representative put it, “while new products are always a goal, this often takes a long time to realize, however, the information that the projects generates is something that could be used on a much earlier stage to create value”. That is, to, for example, create legitimacy and publicity as well as to inform consumers about what the company is doing.

Naturally, conflicts may also exist between the publication of results and the commercialization of results. If we look a bit closer on one project61, one patent is registered. LTH owns the patent, and has offered it to the companies. However, it is difficult and costly for the company to pursue further commercialization, particularly if the information has already been put in the public domain through publications. However, the main reason is

59 _{P25083 – Positive health effects of whole grains food (Positiva hälsoeffekter av}

livsmedel rika på fullkorn).

60 _{P20510 – Konsistensoptimering och sensorisk design för hälsa och välbefinnande hos}

äldre.

61 _{P20071 – Exopolysackarider producerade av mjölsyrabakterier: pre- och probiotisk}

that many aspects have to be developed, before a new product is placed on the market.

5.2.4 New scientific method and/or theoretical development