Network-Structured University-Industry-Collaboration for Scientific Knowledge Transfer: Values for the Stakeholders
Sprache des Vortragstitels:
Englisch
Original Tagungtitel:
The R&D Management Conference 2012
Sprache des Tagungstitel:
Englisch
Original Kurzfassung:
Despite the increasing relevance of university-industry-collaborations (UICs) for advancing
knowledge and propelling new technologies, there are only few studies which analyze the
organization of these collaboration arrangements. Especially the role of network structure in
scientific knowledge transfer is not investigated in detail. Therefore, in this paper the
following research questions will be discussed: ?Which value is created by a networkstructured
university-industry collaboration regarding scientific knowledge transfer?? and
?Which stakeholder-groups profit in which way?? The research is designed as a
comprehensive single case study and follows a qualitative approach. The specific implications
for different stakeholders of a unique, well-performing UIC-network in Austria are analyzed.
The results of this study indicate that the stakeholders perceive many (but partly different)
values: (1) effective knowledge transfer (exchange), (2) accessibility to a high quantity of
resources but also unique and complementary resources, (3) cross-discipline research, (4)
bridging of basic research and application-oriented engineering and (5) problem solving
capability are essential values. The study shows that the specific, investigated networkconstruct
offers significant benefits, in principle for all relevant stakeholders. However, some
negative issues due to the network-design and limitations regarding controllability have also
been observed. In total, the analyzed network represents an interesting possibility for an
effective organization of UICs. Given the absence of fundamental work in this area, the study
provides valuable insights to optimize the management of new or existing UICs.
Forschungs-