Value creation in university-firm research collaborations: A matching approach

Abstract

University-based technological opportunities are often exploited through joint corporate and academic entrepreneurship activities such as university-industry research collaborations. This paper explores the partner attributes that drive the matching of academic scientists and firms involved in these relationships. The paper models the formation of firm-faculty partnership as an endogenous selection process driven by synergy between partners' knowledge-creation capabilities. The main findings indicate that faculty-firm matching is multidimensional: firms and scientists complement each other in publishing capabilities but substitute each other in patenting skills. Furthermore, firms and scientists with specialized knowledge create more value by teaming with more knowledge-diversified partners. The paper contributes to the literature on university-industry knowledge transfer and, more generally, to the literature on alliance formation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.