Abstract
This paper presents a potential solution to fill a gap in both research and practice that there are few interactions between transnational industry cooperation (TIC) and transnational university cooperation (TUC) in transnational innovation ecosystems. To strengthen the synergies between TIC and TUC for innovation, the first step is to match suitable industrial firms from two countries for collaboration through their common connections to transnational university/academic partnerships. Our proposed matching solution is based on the integration of social science theories and specific artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. While the insights of social sciences, e.g., innovation studies and social network theory, have potential to answer the question of why TIC and TUC should be looked at as synergetic entities with elaborated conceptualization, the method of machine learning, as one specific technic off AI, can help answer the question of how to realize that synergy. On the way towards a transdisciplinary approach to TIC and TUC synergy building, or creating transnational university-industry co-innovation networks, the paper takes an initial step by examining what the supports and gaps of existing studies on the topic are, and using the context of EU–China science, technology and innovation cooperation as a testbed. This is followed by the introduction of our proposed approach and our suggestions for future research.
Highlights
While there is growing awareness of the role of digital technologies in transforming organizations and social relationships [1], the new economy based on digital technologies is changing the nature of globalization [2], in which the focus has been shifted from countries and companies to individuals and groups [3]
This paper has demonstrated how social sciences and artificial intelligence (AI) could be integrated to develop a transdisciplinary approach to transnational industry cooperation (TIC) and transnational university cooperation (TUC) synergy building, contributing to the knowledge pool in which studies on TIC and TUC have been separately reported in spite of a growing awareness on necessary of synergy building between TIC and TUC
Our efforts are around discussions on how existing research may offer useful insights and have limits in answering three questions: Why should TIC and TUC be looked at as synergetic entities? How can the synergy building be theoretically elucidated? How can the synergy building be methodologically realized? The diagnose of advantages and weaknesses of state-of-the-art research in the field serves as clear point of departure of our research on TIC and TUC synergy building, and helps guide more scholars to plunge into the field
Summary
While there is growing awareness of the role of digital technologies in transforming organizations and social relationships [1], the new economy (called platform economy or digital platform economy) based on digital technologies is changing the nature of globalization [2], in which the focus has been shifted from countries (globalization 1.0) and companies (globalization 2.0) to individuals and groups (globalization 3.0) [3]. In the context of transnational innovation networks, the interactions between TIC and TUC can be understood as synergetic entities or transnational U–I co-innovation networks (Figure 2) In such networks, new ideas and approaches from various internal and external sources are integrated in a platform to generate shared values [31]. The subject of university and industry interactions in transnational context is not new in research, our study is different to existing approaches by discovering unobvious/hidden links between TUC and TIC. Since the EU and China have different, sometimes contrasting, social structures and value systems, if we can find effective solutions to build TIC and TUC synergies in EU–China STI cooperation, the approach is likely to be applied (with possible adjustment) in other transnational contexts. The method in this paper is primarily based on reviewing, analyzing and synthesizing relevant literature
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