Best practices for industry-university research collaborations

Abstract

This thesis reports a study of industry-university collaborations aimed at the development of best practices to enhance the impact of such collaborations on company competitiveness. The data sample involves twenty-five research-intensive multinational companies which engage in collaborative research on a regular basis. Over 100 different collaboration projects are analyzed through interviews with the responsible project managers and with senior technology officers. The interviewees provided both quantitative and qualitative information about the success and lack of success of the collaborations. Based on these data, seven best practices for managing collaborations have been defined which, when taken together, significantly contribute to the long-term success of the collaboration. These practices are: 1) select collaboration projects that complement company R&D; 2) select university researchers who understand specific industry goals and practices; 3) select project managers with strong boundary spanning capabilities; 4) promote longer collaboration timeframes; 5) provide appropriate internal support for project management; 6) conduct regular meetings at the company between university and industry researchers; and 7) build awareness of the university project inside the company.