22.07.2026 | Publikationen

From green thesis to green invention: tracing the contribution of PhDs to green technology transfer of German universities

In their new Scientometrics article G. Bünstorf., A. Hindiyeh, J König, L.P. Neumann & B. Özgün examine the direct and indirect contributions of PhD recipients to sustainability-oriented innovation, along with the determinants of these contributions. By explicitly focusing on PhDs as carriers of advanced scientific knowledge, the study extends existing research on academic knowledge transfer and green innovation.

The authors examine how PhD graduates contribute to green technology transfer by linking their academic and inventive outputs. Focusing on German PhD-recipients in two fields of research (physics, and electrical engineering and computer science), they construct a new record linkage connecting PhD theses, scientific publications,patents, and patent-to-publication citations. They found that PhD graduates with a focus on environmental sustainability are more likely to contribute to green innovation. However, these contributions are more often indirect—through research that is cited in patents—than direct, through filing green patents themselves.

Buenstorf, Guido; Hindiyeh, Alana; Koenig, Johannes; Neumann, Liam Paul; Özgün, Burcu (2026): From green thesis to green invention: tracing the contribution of PhDs to green technology transfer of German universities. Scientometrics. DOI: 10.1007/s11192-026-05736-5.