University-industry collaboration: A case study of a research programme

Abstract

University-industry collaborations are widely seen as an important mode of institutional interaction and technology transfer. Although there is now a considerable amount of research concerning this phenomena, there are surprisingly few inner studies of collaboration programmes between a university and a firm. The present work presents the results of a study of a large research programme that involved the collaboration of a university and a local branch of a large multinational firm that manufactures electronic components for the automotive sector. The research strategy is based on a qualitative case study approach. Data collection was made through secondary sources and through extended interviews with people at three hierarchy levels of the collaboration. The interview questions and themes were based on selected factors that the literature referred as affecting positively or negatively the research collaborations between university and industry. The aim was to confirm the hypothesis advanced by the literature and/or identify additional factors that could be important determinants of the relationship. The results seem to show that factors like communication, team spirit, researchers' recognition, institutional bureaucracy and organizational issues may be elements which can alter or improve the collaboration.