RESEARCHERS’ MOTIVATION, INTERACTION CHANNELS, AND STRATEGIES TOWARDS UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY COLLABORATION: A CASE STUDY APPROACH

Abstract

The relationship between the university and industry is an important element to increase knowledge and technology exchange that benefits both. However, this collaboration remains unclear understanding how this relationship can be enhanced for better opportunities that impact the community and economic development. The decreased number of UIC grants is due to several influencing factors, mainly researchers’ motivation, interaction channel, and innovation culture. This study will have a deeper understanding of the researchers’ motivations, interaction channels, and strategies toward University-Industry Collaboration (UIC) from the context of a technical university. This research employed semi-structured interview sessions with top management of the university and academics and analyzed thematically. Through this study, it was found that the factors that influence the motivation of researchers are student talent, funding, enthusiasm to contribute, and appreciation as an expert. While the four interaction channels used to communicate with the industry are namely traditional channels, two-way channels, and commercial and service channels. Thus, strengthening channels of interaction, increasing the motivation of the researchers, and improving the culture of innovation will ultimately improve the UIC for the years to come.