Selling Science. Constructing a Work Identity on the Border between Academic and Business Worlds

The growth of the knowledge economy and the increasing interchange between industry and the academic world are a consequence of neoliberal globalization, which has led to a blurring of the boundaries between science and technology and between public and private spheres. In this new context, researchers should not be limited to producing new knowledge, but should be able to attribute a commercial value to their findings. They must therefore try to reconfigure their role and to redefine their work identity in order to adapt to a market-oriented context. The research presented here is based on a case study of an academic spin-off operating in the field of biotechnology. The goal is to analyze what type of organizational identity emerges in this new form of enterprise and, at the same time, how researchers try to reconfigure their roles in response to conflicts and contradictions that arise when they attempt to reconcile the logic of the market with that of pure science. We also focus on the results that show how the diffusion of the idea of “social responsibility” of scientists has played a key role in redefining their work identity and the organizational identity of the spin-off