Abstract
<p><strong>Purpose</strong>: The collaborative work between universities and enterprises is increasingly important given the growing competitive environment, transformed by intense global competition, rapid technological change and shorter product life cycles. In this article several case studies are analysed, as well as relevant academic literature, to get an insight concerning the current relationship status between enterprises and universities.</p><p><strong>Methodology/Approach</strong>: The methodology is grounded on the literature review on University-Industry Partnerships, selected from indexed sources, and targeted to case-based experiences where practical feedback is given.</p><p><strong>Findings: </strong>It is shown that university-industry knowledge transfer contributes significantly to an increase of quality, productivity and economic value of businesses. It is found that the lack of controlling mechanisms and lack of efficient communication paths have a strong negative impact in collaboration. Key collaboration factors that support stronger relationships were compiled and discussed in support of better mitigation strategies.</p><p><strong>Research Limitation/implication</strong>: The limited availability of case studies reporting on operative improvements introduced by policy changes hinders the effectiveness of the findings.</p><strong>Originality/Value of paper</strong>: The paper analyses the collaboration of the university with industry based on case studies with a focus on value creation and how to gain a competitive advantage through collaboration.
Highlights
Collaboration between universities and industry in Europe, presents a heterogeneous landscape
The approach used in elaborating the article consisted of two steps: (i) identify the central theme of the research, through a general literature search in ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, Springer, Taylor&Francis and major indexed journals in SCOPUS using the terms “Collaboration”, “Knowledge Transfer”, “Competitiveness”, and “Value Creation”, and (ii) select major case studies that dwell on the central topic and sent address the relationship problems
Several studies highlight the importance of universities as providers of significant opportunities for the development of new knowledge, in addition to teaching and research, changing the role of universities in marketing and contributing significantly to innovation
Summary
Collaboration between universities and industry in Europe, presents a heterogeneous landscape. The process of knowledge transfer has some weaknesses with regards to communication and collaboration between universities and companies with influence on their capacity for innovation and compromise successful relationships. There are key factors present in the determinants of interaction that, identified and properly addressed, will overcome some of the barriers and assist the management of collaboration university – enterprise making it more profitable and a source of value for both parties and society in general. The article first addresses the common strategies used in the university-industry relationship highlighting the benefits that can be brought through those partnerships. The section highlights the role of innovation in getting sustained competitive advantage for industry and why universities are the perfect allies to achieve those goals. The following two sections report on the success of partnerships and highpoint major constraints that undermine the success and future of collaboration between industry and universities
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