Role of University-Industry Linkages and Its Impact on Innovation: Evidence from Pakistan

Abstract

This paper analyses the barriers to University-Industry linkages in Pakistan and the significance of these linkages towards innovation outcomes of the firms. We used primary data collected by a questionnaire survey named "innovation survey 2013- 2014"from 200 firms (manufacturing/services) of Pakistan. Inspiration of the study has been taken from the theoretical grounds of the national innovation system and its major innovation players, i.e. universities, firms, govt. And research institutions. Two out of four institution shave been studied in this research work, i.e., universities and industries, to address the first research objective examining the significance of University-Industry linkages towards innovation. The second research objective focuses upon the barriers to University-Industry Linkages and their impact on creating these linkages. Another contribution to the innovation literature has been made by studying the barriers towards this collaboration is a major focus of our analyses. Research methodology is based upon the Pr-obit regression function to study the effect of barriers to U-I linkages on the university-industry relationship and the role of these linkages for a firm's innovative performance.Our findings conclude that top manager reluctance is the most significant barrier towards the U-I linkages. Moreover, our analysis reveals that firms, which are engaged in collaborative arrangements with academia, are more innovative