Valuing intangible outcomes from the Cooperative Research Centres-Projects program

Abstract

The growing use of triple helix arrangements to stimulate national systems of innovation (NSIs) for broader economic benefits has largely focussed on quantifiable and compliance-based metrics to evaluate the ‘success’ of industry-university strategic collaborative research ventures. This metrics-focus largely ignores secondary, and even tertiary, outcomes of the collaborative ventures that are difficult to capture by research and innovation administrators with traditional metrics. A research project conducted on the Cooperative Research Centres—Projects (CRC-P) Program in Australia found that, in a number of cases, secondary and tertiary outcomes were highly valued by participants, and provided important but hitherto officially unacknowledged socio-economic benefits to the Australian NSI. This discussion proposes a typology of collaborative research outcomes beyond traditional compliance-based metrics, and challenges policy makers and research and innovation administrators to consider the development of an ‘Innovation Ecosystem Body of Knowledge’ to inform future collaborative research projects and enhance the ability of actors to access this ecosystem in an efficient and productive manner in order to ensure that potential economic gains from collaborative research are maximised.