University-industry Collaboration Research Articles

The role of innovation in the relationship between university–industry collaboration in R&D and ISO 9001

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the relationship between university–industry collaboration (U-I-C) in research and development (R&D) and quality management and explore how the relationship is mediated by innovation.Design/methodology/approachBased on panel data consisting of 109 countries spanning over a five year period (2013-2017) this study investigates, through structural equation modelling, how this relationship is mediated by innovation.FindingsThe main finding is that there are positive significant direct effects between U-I-C and innovation and between innovation and international organization for standardization (ISO) 9001. Furthermore, the strength and significance of these relations are highly affected by the classification of income in these countries, which ranges from high and upper-middle to lower-middle categories. This paper concludes that countries in the high-income category have higher achievement in U-I-C in R&D, innovation and ISO 9001 when compared to the upper and lower-middle-income categories.Originality/valueThis paper demonstrates in the empirical study the value of collaboration in R&D between government, industry and academia, as it can encourage scientific research and contribute to quality management and innovation. This research is one of the very few studies to assess the country’s income classification effect on U-I-C in R&D, innovation and ISO 9001. It is recommended that more research is conducted on how countries not ranked in the high-income category could benefit from U-I-C in R&D to enhance innovation and quality management.

How Principal Investigators’ Commercial Experience Influences Technology Transfer and Market Impacts

Overview: Businesses can benefit from university–industry collaborations, yet they rarely take full advantage of them. Scientists who serve as principal investigators (PIs) act as the nucleus of university–industry collaborations and partner with industry to cocreate value. We conducted a case study of PIs at publicly funded research universities, institutes, and organizations in Ireland to explore how having commercial experience influences how PIs approach technology transfer and how they develop new business models, products, and services. We learned that PIs’ prior commercial experience influences how they approach their research, project work, and project selection and affects how they commercialize knowledge and outputs from their scientific research––that is, patents, licences, agreements, etc.––throughout the project’s life cycle. In university–industry collaborations, PIs’ commercial experience can impact industry partners’ attempts to realize technology transfer and market impacts.

The industry engagement ladder

PurposeThis paper is a response to a frequently asked question from prospective industry partners searching for opportunities to collaborate with the Computer Science Department of Swansea University, UK. This paper seeks to provide structured guidance in the form of what is titled the Industry Engagement Ladder.Design/methodology/approachThe Industry Engagement Ladder presents a selection of collaboration opportunities, outlining the possible cooperation mechanisms between an industry partner and the academic institution.FindingsOpportunities are described and ranked according to the amount of investment required by the industrial partner, and therefore risk, from low to high.Originality/valueThis concise paper provides a quick reference for perspective industry academia collaboration opportunities, the risks involved with each, the possible funding available to help foster these partnerships and the benefits to industry. These collaborative activities (and variations thereof) can be incorporated by any university department. The manuscript offers an ideal starting point for industry–university collaboration.

Connecting curricula content with career context: the value of engineering industry site visits to students, academics and industry

ABSTRACT Work-integrated learning (WIL) has become an increasingly conspicuous and valued component of student learning at university. Given the limits to scale for WIL-related internships and placements, other forms of WIL, such as field trips and site visits, have become more common in undergraduate engineering curricula. However, these forms of WIL are under-researched in terms of their value to the various stakeholders. This study invited undergraduate engineering students from an Australian university, who participated in site visits at two leading Engineering organisations, to provide feedback on their experience. Unsolicited feedback was also provided by academic staff. The results highlight the range of values and impacts of a WIL site visit programme on students, academics, industry partners and to engineering curricula. These include refining and expanding students’ perceptions of their career work and identity, a strengthening of university-industry collaborations, and a reshaping of engineering curricula based on student and industry partner feedback.

An innovation intermediary for Nairobi, Kenya: Designing student-centric services for university-industry collaboration

Engaging students as partners in university-industry collaboration (UIC) through challenge-based and real-life projects creates significant value for all participants through novel educational approaches, talent recruitment, user-driven innovation, new resources, and research-related opportunities. However, as these practices have developed iteratively over time in industrialized countries and are highly context dependent, it is unclear how they can be best transferred to emerging economy contexts. In this paper, we present a research and design process of creating an innovation intermediary to foster student-centric UIC in Nairobi, Kenya. Seen as a set of services that reside on a multilevel platform, the intermediary aims to add value to the existing ecosystem through open access knowledge sharing, promoting partnerships, and mentoring for impact in an integrative, complementary way. Through a four-step qualitative research process involving interviews and co-creation workshops with local stakeholders, we examine the ecosystem, define value creation, design the services of the intermediary, and propose a step-wise model for further diffusion. We note the importance of establishing a solid rationale for collaboration, understanding the expected value to be created, creating a neutral space for the collaboration, and planning the implementation in detail. We contribute to transferring student-centric UIC practices into emerging economy contexts.

Identifying tacit university-industry collaborations in Chinese patents based on inventor-author analysis

Based on inventor-author analysis, we describe a matching and disambiguation procedure for identifying the tacit university-industry collaborations in Chinese patents. We then make a detailed and comprehensive description of their characteristics. Using 11,336 inventor-patent instances selected from the application data of invention patents in the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) between 1985 and August 30, 2016, we have identified the inventors’ affiliations in each patent by combining publication information in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). The findings show that there are indeed more scientific collaborations than the co-application information represents, especially after the year 2004 and in eastern regions. Also, although the application number of tacit patents invented by academic and industrial inventors is high, the granted number of them is lower, indicating that the omission bias can be weakened when we take patent value into consideration.

Spatial and non‐spatial proximity in university–industry collaboration: Mutual reinforcement and decreasing effects

AbstractThe role of geographical proximity in fostering innovation is widely recognized, and local flows of information and knowledge‐sharing play a critical role in interactive learning. The aim of this paper is to evaluate synergistic effects and non‐linearities in spatial and non‐spatial proximity in university–industry collaborations. Previous studies have evaluated this issue in scientific collaboration. Here, we examine the role of geographical and cognitive proximity in university‐industry collaboration using data from collaborative projects between academic research groups and firms in Brazil (4,342 collaborations involving 3,063 firms and 1,738 research groups in most scientific fields). Our results reveal synergistic effects that mutually reinforce the benefits of geographical and cognitive proximity and reveal non‐linearity in the impacts of geographical and cognitive proximity in university‐industry collaborations. The contribution of our research is its examination of synergistic effects and non‐linearities in university‐industry collaborations that include information exchange and knowledge‐sharing between firms and their academic partners.

The influence of shared R&D-project innovativeness perceptions on university-industry collaboration performance

University-industry collaboration (UIC) partners’ different organizational backgrounds entail socialization with distinct thought worlds, management approaches, and therefore diverging goals, which may lead to differences in their perceptions of the R&D challenge. These differences can hamper relationship quality and may cause coordination challenges. Using dyadic survey data of 164 UIC project managers of 82 projects, we analyze the consequences of partners’ shared R&D-project innovativeness perceptions for project performance. We consider the planning intensity and the collaboration in the planning process as antecedents to partners’ shared perceptions. We find that partners’ shared R&D-project innovativeness perceptions increase project performance. We also show that collaborative planning enhances shared perception. Moreover, we find support that planning intensity (i.e., formal control) and collaborative planning (i.e., social control) complement each other. Hence, if both partners are involved in a collaborative and intensive planning process, they will more likely exhibit a shared R&D project innovativeness perception and, therefore, increase UIC project performance. This will help to manage their R&D activities to create a sense of ownership and to prevent inefficient project deviations.

Co-Creating Curricula with Industry Partners: A Case Study

In this paper we describe how a mid-sized business faculty in Australia relaunched its Master’s in Human Resource Management program in 2019. In a bid to create a niche for its program, the faculty co-created the program’s curriculum with industry partners. In what was a unique approach, the industry partners also co-delivered some content. We argue that the approach adopted can help business faculties cope with the tension between ensuring academic rigor and industry relevance in their curricula. We intersperse our description of the curriculum co-creation process with first person narrative accounts and offer pointers on how business schools could develop a decision matrix on the nature of industry involvement in classrooms to enhance learning outcomes. The case study suggests that the following are essential for effective curricula co-creation: support from senior management; administrative and logistical support for recruiting suitable industry partners; effective leadership at the local level; preparatory work to identify the quantum and nature of industry contribution; processes which make partners’ ongoing involvement less onerous for them with every iteration; and, most importantly, strong relationships with executive champions from partner organizations. Keywords: Curriculum development, university industry collaboration, Master’s in Human Resource Management, management education

IUR Alliance Portfolio Concentration and Firm Innovation Performance in Emerging Economies

Collaborations between a focal firm and multiple universities or research institutes from diverse geographic regions have been a pervasive phenomenon in emerging economies. Drawing on the unbalanced panel data of 186 Chinese manufacturing firms listed on the main board, we examine whether and under what conditions industry-university-research (IUR) alliance portfolio concentration, the geographical concentration of IUR alliance partners, influence a focal firm’s innovation performance in emerging economies. The results suggest that IUR alliance portfolio concentration has a negative effect on firm innovation performance. Moreover, the negative effect of IUR alliance portfolio concentration on firm innovation performance is stronger for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) than that for non-SOEs. Besides, results also reveal that the negative effect of IUR alliance portfolio concentration on firm innovation performance is stronger for politically connected firms than that for non-politically connected firms. We discuss the implications of our findings for existing research on alliance portfolios and university-industry collaborations.

The Effect of University Research on Industrial Innovation: Evidence from China

University research is well-recognized as playing an important role in boosting industrial innovation. However, empirical works that causally justify and comprehensively explore this relationship are rare. In this paper, I make use of a novel natural experiment, the reform on Chinses universities’ personnel management system starting from 2008, to examine the effect of an increase in university research on industrial innovation. Using the difference-in-difference strategy, I find evidence for a positive, causal, and robust effect. I also show that the effect is driven by indirect knowledge spillover rather than direct R&D collaboration; and it is attributable mainly to high-ranking universities, though not confined to the few top-tier universities. The patterns this paper unveil have implications for the design of science & technology policies, especially on university funding and university-industry collaboration.

Global R&D Collaboration in the Development of Nanotechnology: The Impact of R&D Collaboration Patterns on Patent Quality

Nanotechnologies have been regarded as general-purpose, and interdisciplinary technology converged with different implications of technologies. This paper aims to explore the global Nano collaboration of research and development (R&D) by patent analysis to realize the sustainable development of nanotechnology and investigate the influence of global R&D collaboration on patent quality. The primary findings indicated that the number of issued patents grew sharply since 2002, and the major collaborative fields in terms of nanotechnology are nanoelectronic and nanomaterials. Finally, the collaboration among star assigners, global partnership, and the indicator of patent centrality had a positive impact on patent quality, except that university-industry collaboration did not show a significant effect on patent quality. One part of the reason is that industries have not yet fully recognised nanotechnology opportunities with a risk-averse attitude toward market uncertainties. Overall, the relationship of global R&D collaboration is an essential factor in promoting the sustainable development of the patent quality of nanotechnology. An effective patenting strategy and high-quality application of nanotechnology R&D could secure protection for innovations to reinforce core competitiveness in the business.

Examining the dynamics of industry–university collaborations in Ghana

PurposeUniversity–industry (UI) collaborations are now a crucial issue as universities explore innovative means to secure industry funding for research and improve the employability content of existing curricula. This paper explores the dynamics of the antecedents of UI collaborations in management education. It further investigates the moderating variables (motivation, national policy and institutional factors) that are likely to influence the positive relationship between the antecedents of collaboration and the intention to collaborate.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative survey sent to 300 participants in academia and industry in Ghana achieved an 83% response rate. The data was analysed using bivariate and multivariate techniques.FindingsThe results revealed a positive relationship between knowledge sharing, trust, communication and motivation for UI collaborations. Motivation did not have a moderating effect on the positive relationship between any of the five independent variables and UI collaborations. Institutional factors were found to moderate the positive relationship between knowledge sharing and collaboration.Practical implicationsPolicy to encourage UI collaborations should build on reputational and intrinsic rather than purely financial motivations as academics are motivated by a complex mix of monetary and non-monetary factors.Originality/valueThis paper highlights the need for an intricate alignment of the interests of academia and practitioners to encourage UI collaboration efforts.

University-software industry collaboration: an empirical study based on knowledge management

ABSTRACT The current environment that characterises the software industry is extremely dynamic and somewhat complex demanding high-performance solutions, rapid development, and cost-efficiency. Given this scenario, industry is forced to search for new partners, with the university-industry collaboration representing a fundamental resource in promoting innovation and technological development. This study aims to obtain and analyse the perceptions and experiences of representatives of this industry and the university, in order to identify a set of factors that could enhance and/or be the source of a sustainable collaboration, based on knowledge management. In nutshell, the results show that motivations are associated with the immediate opportunities or needs of each of those directly involved in the collaboration take priority, without building a sustainable collaboration. This collaboration is generally conducted through informal communication channels, which makes it difficult to capture and disseminate knowledge to other members of each of the related organisations.

Integrating sustainable value thinking into technology forecasting: A configurable toolset for early stage technology assessment

There is an urgent need for technology development to make a sustainable or restorative contribution to the environment, with its inherent links to society and societal welfare. Forward-looking activities, such as firm level technology forecasting and technology intelligence, are increasingly important in providing positive impact that is complementary to policy level interventions. However, selecting and implementing appropriate approaches to conduct these activities and quantifying their value contribution is still difficult. This article seeks to demonstrate how technology opportunities may be explored more effectively by combining existing methods for assessing new technology and identifying sustainable value, in an approach for industry that is both configurable and practical while delivering tangible benefits. It details the two-year university-industry collaboration and testing of a configurable toolset, based on four templates used in a workshop setting. Results indicate that the toolset has successfully probed technological, environmental and social capabilities, promoted the selection and implementation of an appropriate approach and led to the quantification of value through the inclusive, transparent and documented assessment of technology opportunities and the tangible actions identified. In summary, the toolset supports company employees in realising a measure of prospective sensemaking, which is a key deliverable from forward-looking activities.

Predictive Model Based Low-Speed Adaptive Cruise Control for Autonomous Vehicles

European Union confirmed the “Vision Zero” objective in June 2019, as to achieve zero deaths and serious injuries by 2050. This can only be attained through connected and autonomous vehicles integrated into intelligent transport systems and a sustainable mobility system. This requires a cost-effective, fast,and efficient development process for advanced connected and autonomous vehicle functions. In this article, a methodology to develop low-speed Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), which is one of the most important functions of an autonomous vehicle, is explained. Vehicle tracking at slow speeds is a problem especially for conventional vehicles with high levels of nonlinearities in the powertrain system. As a part of a university-industry collaboration project “SAE level 3 autonomous bus development”, a flexible and realistic discrete plant model including longitudinal vehicle and powertrain model has been developed and discrete low-speed ACC is designed. The plant model aims to perform detailed and realistic software tests of autonomous features, which interfaces with the vehicle controllers. OKAN_UTAS autocorrectedmulti-parameter longitudinal model is integrated. For engine modeling via shaft dynamometer the 3D map of the engine is reproduced. The transmission characteristics were prepared through the road tests. To increase the reliability of the developed functions, Software in the Loop (SIL) and Model in the Loop (MIL) simulations were conducted before the on-road vehicle tests. Finally, C code with the MISRA C standard of ACC is generated and embedded into a real-time platform. The plant model, ACC design, and Model in the Loop test results are presented.

Applying Translational Research in University-Industry Collaboration through Crab Farming for Socio-Economic Alleviation of Disadvantage Communities

Innovations can be translated into social entrepreneurship to benefit disadvantage communities. This paper narrates the social entrepreneurship project between Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) and Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Selangor (UCS). UNIMAS’s crab cage innovation was implemented at the Pulau Salak community in Santubong, Sarawak. The social entrepreneurship expertise was provided by UCS. The translational research cum collaborative project has improved the living standards by exploiting on the built environment which is perfect for crab farming. Aquaculture as a cash crop will ensure food security and significant economic growth. Translational research projects should be the new normal after the pandemic lockdowns. Keywords: Translational research; Social entrepreneurship; Socio-economy; Aquaculture. eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI:https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v5i14.2098

A role model of large-scale university–industry collaboration in Japan

A role model of large-scale university–industry collaboration in Japan

Cognitive proximity and innovation performance: are collaborators equal?

PurposeThis paper combines the concepts of search depth and cognitive proximity to investigate the impact of intense collaboration with different external agents on firms' innovation performance. It empirically tests whether firms that draw deeply on cognitively proximate collaborative partners are more innovative than those collaborating intensively with cognitively distant partners. It explores whether the impact of each external agent is equally important in determining the innovation output of firms.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from the Irish Community Innovation Survey 2012–2014, this paper employs a probit model to empirically test the impact of collaboration with cognitively proximate and distant sources of external knowledge to establish whether their impact on innovation performance is uniform.FindingsThe results show that not all collaborators equally impact firm innovation performance. Firms who indicate that knowledge sourced from backward linkages with suppliers is highly important are more likely to engage in both product and process innovation, with the effect more pronounced for the former. The extent of this is greatest for backward linkages compared to forward, horizontal and public linkages. Public linkages have the weakest impact on innovation output which raises questions from a policy perspective given the focus on university–industry collaboration for innovation. The findings indicate that collaboration with cognitively proximate sources of knowledge benefits firms' innovation output.Originality/valueThe study provides empirical evidence on the role of intense collaboration with cognitively proximate and distant external knowledge sources to explore their impact on the subsequent innovation performance of firms. The results can be used to help shape firm-level innovation policy, and indeed national policy, to promote innovation performance.

Barriers to university-industry collaboration in an academic university department in London, United Kingdom

PurposeUniversity-industry collaboration yields numerous advantages resulting in potential benefits in funding research and innovation. Despite the numerous benefits, there are various perceived disadvantages of such collaboration especially in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry in prominent academic institutes in London, UK. The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes of the academics and clinicians in an academic university department towards industry collaboration.Design/methodology/approachTwo methods were applied, quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative method used an online questionnaire of four-point Likert-Scale, the link of which was emailed to 80 members of the department with a response rate of 32%. The qualitative method included a one-to-one interview with eight researchers from the department to garner in-depth information on the attitude of researchers in child and adolescent psychiatry towards industry collaboration.FindingsThe online questionnaire was completed by 26 researchers, the vast majority perceived industry as biased to favour their product and as having a bad or mixed reputation. One-on-one interviews with eight prominent researchers allowed us to share their perception and attitude towards industry collaboration, although the researchers believe that availability of funding was the major advantage of working in collaboration with industry, many did not know how to access such grants and some raised concerns about industry’s record of presenting partial results.Research limitations/implicationsBecause of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalisability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.Practical implicationsThis paper will shed light on how prominent researchers perceive collaboration with industry.Originality/valueAlthough researchers are very reluctant to collaborate with industry because of its public opinion and sometimes unethical and lack of integrity among the industry, with rigorous ethical guidelines and policies, the pharmaceutical industry can be a potential and significant source of funding of high-quality research and innovation.