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Does public research have a positive impact on firm R&D? The case of the LabEx policy

Antonin Bergeaud, Arthur Guillouzouic, Émeric Henry, Clément Malgouyres
January 2023
This note presents findings from Bergeaud et al. (2022) and develops a new measure for establishing a detailed picture of the scientific proximity between research laboratories and firms. The study then highlights the extent of spillovers between the public and private research sectors, as well as the channels through which these spillovers occur.
Reference IPP Policy Brief No. 86

Quote this publication

Bergeaud, Antonin, Guillouzouic, Arthur, Henry, Émeric, Malgouyres, Clément (January 2023). ‘Does public research have a positive impact on firm R&D? The case of the LabEx policy’, IPP Policy Brief, No. 86. Institut des politiques publiques (IPP).
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Presentation

Many technologies are based on scientific principles developed by university laboratories or with public funding (the laser, GPS, or, more recently, the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine). Nevertheless, the impact of public research funding on firms has been little documented in a systematic manner. Conversely, public policies supporting private research are analysed, evaluated and documented: for example, the research tax credit was evaluated by the IPP in June 2021.

This is due in particular to the difficulty of identifying the firms that benefit from an increase in (academic) research output in a given field.

Using a new indicator that measures the scientific proximity of firms to research laboratories, the authors of this paper are able to provide a detailed estimate of the impact of an ambitious public research funding programme: the Laboratories of Excellence (LabEx) scheme.

This programme was launched in France in 2010 and has allocated around €1.5 billion to 170 thematic research consortia of researchers.

The authors measure the positive effects of the programme on the R&D expenditure of firms located near these LabEx and active in sectors with a strong scientific proximity to the LabEx’s research theme.

They then examine the channels through which these effects may have been transmitted, enabling the knowledge generated by the LabEx to be disseminated to firms. An analysis of the launch reports for the successful LabEx projects suggests that contractual arrangements between laboratories and firms, as well as the mobility of researchers to firms, play a significant role; this is confirmed by their causal analysis.

This note is taken directly from an academic working paper (CEPR DP17487).

Key Results

  • The LabEx programme has had a significant positive impact on R&D expenditure in the private sector. The quarter of firms most affected within the catchment area of a successful LabEx application increases its R&D expenditure by around 20 per cent following the funding, compared with the quarter least affected.
  • The main channel through which knowledge has been disseminated between LabEx and firms is the conclusion of formal contracts, as well as the mobility of researchers to firms.

Method and Data

This note draws on a large number of administrative sources, as set out below:

  • Data on LabEx programmes: these data, provided by the ANR, contain information on all the laboratories applying to the programme, including the amount requested for the project, the amount allocated, and the scores awarded to the project by the international experts responsible for its évaluation. We have also obtained the scientific proposals submitted (including, in particular, the project bibliographies), as well as the launch reports submitted by the successful applicants at the start of the programme, describing the nature of their activities.
  • PATSTAT: this database, produced by the European Patent Office, contains comprehensive data on patent applications filed with the world’s leading patent offices. We selected patents with French applicants and linked them to firm identifiers (SIREN) through a matching procedure (see Bergeaud et al., 2022).
  • patCit: this database contains an extract of all citations made by patents to academic literature, both in the dedicated section of the patent and within the body of the text. A large proportion of these citations include the DOI, which allows the publication to be identified. The construction of the database is described in Cristelli et al. (2020).
  • DADS Postes: these comprehensive employment data compiled by INSEE include, in particular, wages, hours worked, the employer’s SIREN number, the sector to which the employer belongs, and the post held by the employee. It enables us to accurately reconstruct the employment of engineers by employment area and sector on an annual basis, as well as the movement of public-sector researchers to private firms. We equate the employment of engineers with R&D wage expenditure (this procedure was subject to an analysis of discrepancies with the R&D wage expenditure reported in Bach et al., 2021).
  • GECIR data: Data from the Research Tax Credit (data from Form 2069) enable us to identify, by legal entity, the amounts of R&D expenditure declared under the CIR, as well as expenditure on subcontracting to public bodies and expenditure on the recruitment of recent PhD graduates.
  • Data on Cifre theses: Management data on the Cifre thesis scheme – theses carried out in collaboration between firms and universities – are provided by the ANRT and enable us to determine the number of funding awards made by sector and commuting zone each year.
Last modified: July 21, 2026