Making university-industry collaboration work - a case study on the Deutsche Telekom Laboratories contrasted with findings in literature (original) (raw)
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University-industry innovation collaboration: Reconceptualization
Technovation, 2017
This study investigates university-industry (U-I) innovation collaboration and proposes a renewed and empirically tested conceptual approach to analyse it. The motivation for the research emerged from the realisation that the majority of studies on university-industry innovation collaboration on organisational level present limited verification of why some seemingly similar collaboration projects fail while others thrive. Therefore, we aimed for reconceptualization of the way university-industry collaboration is analysed by developing the respective approach that was empirically tested via multiple case-study research of 12 cases. The approach combines elements of the U-I collaboration literature with a model of interaction from semiotics and boundary-crossing ideas from organisation theory. The novelty of this approach lies in explaining the heterogeneity and variation of U-I collaboration on individual level. The interaction model from the semiotics enables distinct U-I collaboration patterns to emerge. In a two-dimensional model it becomes clear that choosing the appropriate partner for potentially successful collaboration means matching the levels of preconditions between partners. The main contribution of this study is twofold: an interdisciplinary approach for analysing U-I collaboration using a multiple case-study research design and the explanation of relevant preconditionsindividual rather than institutional levels of motivation and absorptive capacityas critical aspects that determine the likelihood of the success or failure of such collaboration. 1. Introduction University-industry (U-I) collaboration is nowadays considered a relevant economic driver as universities harness specialised knowledge that is expected to contribute to the economic development of countries or regions. Knowledge and technology transfer between academia and industry is expected to spur innovation, as this kind of collaboration combines not only heterogeneous partners, but more importantly, heterogeneous knowledge. Due to this heterogeneity, partners concurrently face the need to cross different boundaries whereby, managing their boundaries is the central challenge for inter-organisational collaboration (Tsasis, 2009). Therefore, the boundary spanning and relevant social processes may open important aspects of U-I collaboration. Governments are actively promoting the formation and development of U-I networking by designing and implementing innovation policies accordingly (
Journal of International Management Studies, 2015
Given the ever-changing landscape of R&D and the boundaries of science and technology, innovation through partnerships has become unavoidable at both the national and international levels. As a result, the time has come to explore various avenues that foster the growth and success of university-industry collaboration (U-I collaboration). The development of such collaboration is seen as a key issue in a competitive knowledge-based economy (OECD, 2002). This qualitative study contributes to the literature on U-I collaboration management. The results reveal the need to review current collaboration methods and procedures and to consider stakeholder motivations in order to achieve a greater consensus with regard to the sharing and fulfilment of their interests. Furthermore, instilling a stronger climate of trust within U-I collaboration projects will help projects materialize and further the development of innovation ecosystems, the economy and society in general.
Promoting academia-industry cooperation for innovation
Innovation and Innovation Management are essential instruments and methodologies to manage the changes that society and its productive sector are facing in order to find the right balance between competitiveness, trade demands, social equity and sustainable development. A clear role in this can be played by the local universities and by an international network of higher education institutions. The EU/Tempus UNCHAIN project proposal takes its origin from an initiative started in 2007
Technovation, 2000
The linkage between theory on knowledge management and strategic management provides a framework for understanding the imperative for collaborative research partnerships, particularly those involving government, university and industry actors. The emergence of collaboration is facilitated by the sharing of knowledge across organizational boundaries, which promotes the formation of trusted relationships and builds social capital for further cooperation. Furthermore, these partnerships are a vehicle for accelerating organizational learning and for coordinating trans-organizational "communities of innovation". Understanding the nature, process, and content of such collaborative research and technological development ventures can endow with strategic insights both the government policy making and the corporate strategy crafting that informs, shapes, and evolves such partnerships. In particular, government and industry can learn from past experience on how to design intelligent trans-organizational knowledge interfaces to ensure that knowledge sharing occurs across organizational boundaries. A cross-sectional analysis of representative cases of GUIs from the US, Germany, and France, yields a preliminary list of key considerations and corresponding strategic management skills which firms must develop to participate in win-win-win GUI alliances.
BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN UNIVERSITY AND INDUSTRY: THREE MECHANISMS FOR INNOVATION EFFICIENCY
International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management, 2014
A key challenge for competence networking is the di±culty of contextual understanding between people from di®erent organizations. Despite close collaboration, full insight into a company is di±cult, although desirable, for university partners to achieve and vice versa. The case study described in this paper is of a company with long experience of university-industry collaboration. The paper reports on a designerly approach to overcome barriers of universityindustry collaboration. The approach is combined with strategic, tactic and operational dimensions. It builds on three corresponding mechanisms: a tool to facilitate strategic understanding, workshops to facilitate tactical co-creation, and prototyping to facilitate operational ideation.
The Status and Characteristics of University-Industry Collaboration in a Research University
The increasing reliance on knowledge in industry and services is generating strong incentives to develop more efficient ways to transfer the discoveries made in academia to business. This paper mainly focuses to identify the status and characteristics of university-industry (UI) collaborations at a research university. Moreover a quantitative research method was adopted in this study. The sample was selected from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). A total of 42 UTM centers participated in this survey. The findings demonstrate the type of existing UI collaborations and mobility at UTM. Furthermore, the result indicated the characteristics of university partners.
PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN INDUSTRY AND UNIVERSITY FROM AN OPEN INNOVATION PERSPECTIVE
The following paper approaches collaboration between industry and university from the perspective of open innovation. It aims at providing basic information on what open innovation is, under what form can be found, what motivates industry and university to collaborate and how knowledge is shared between the partners. Open innovation encourages both internal resource utilization such as external resources. Academia in the context of open innovation represents the science-based market enabling industry access to unpublished codified knowledge for innovation support through building on the most recent research findings. Science-based collaboration is considered to have positive performance results in loosely managed projects while market-based collaborations are suited to formal managed projects suggesting different managerial approaches depending on the type of partners.
Management Review Quarterly
Cooperation in research, development and innovation (RD&I) between universities or research institutes and industries plays a fundamental role in the economic development of a country. Industry benefits from state-of-the-art laboratories and technologies from academia, while institutes learn about business reality and market needs. Numerous barriers to the establishment and maintenance of these partnerships have been investigated and reported in the literature, but the information generated by these empirical studies is very fragmented and there is a need to consider the barriers systematically in order to clarify the topic. The aims of this systematic review were to analyze university-industry collaborations set up for the purpose of RD&I in an effort to recognize the barriers and facilitators of the process and to identify the approaches by which such barriers may be overcome. Following searches of the Scopus database and application of the exclusion criteria, 86 relevant articles were identified and submitted to bibliometric analysis. Subsequently, 75 articles were selected for in-depth content analysis, and the ideas embodied therein were presented in a structured and comprehensive manner. Barriers were evaluated according to three different theoretical perspectives, namely the triple helix and the entrepreneurial university, the relational social capital and value creation, and technology transfer and cultural differences. The facilitators were categorized as internal and external. The results obtained highlight the importance of fostering relational social capital and providing tax incentives to facilitate industry's pursuit of innovation through academia partnerships, and also show that collaborative barriers in RD&I may be overcome to some extent by starting with smaller projects and gradually increasing their complexity. Based on the findings outlined in this review, we propose various lines for future research.
The transformation of a country into a knowledge-based economy has a considerable impact on the role of a contemporary university. The question is whether the university should assume the role of an entrepreneur itself or whether it can continue to be a traditional university -i.e. focusing on teaching and research -with some additional functions for supporting innovation. The article analyzes innovation support systems at Uppsala University, the University of Tartu and the Tallinn University of Technology and focuses on the measures how universities can enhance academia-industry collaboration and improve innovation. The authors state that the development of collaborative arenas for actors from academia and industry is just as important as the efficient and sustainable management of knowledge transfer. Successful interaction between academy and industry requires the knowledge how to act in a proper manner but also financial resources. This may vary between different universities and different settings.