Keeping together: Which factors characterise persistent university–industry collaboration on innovation?

Christian Richter Østergaard; Ina Drejer

doi:10.1016/j.technovation.2021.102389

Keeping together: Which factors characterise persistent university–industry collaboration on innovation?

Christian Richter Østergaard^*, Ina Drejer

^*Kontaktforfatter

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › peer review

28 Citationer (Scopus)

464 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This paper investigates what distinguishes persistence in relation to university–industry collaboration on innovation from the initiation and discontinuation of a collaboration. The underlying premise is that if a firm continues to collaborate with a university, it must consider that collaboration to be valuable. A quantitative analysis of over 2,600 firms reveals that persistence is relatively common in university–industry collaborations on innovation, with more than a third of firms that engage in university collaboration continuing to collaborate with the same university over two consecutive periods. In addition, the analysis shows that firms’ investments in collaborative capabilities and different dimensions of absorptive capacity are instrumental for persistent collaboration with a university. Furthermore, persistent collaboration with a university is strongly associated with the strategic choice to engage in sustained collaboration with a broad range of partner types. Finally, the analysis reveals that geographical proximity between a firm and a university may facilitate the initiation of a collaboration, although the nearest university is not necessarily the most suitable partner. This is illustrated by the finding that geographical proximity between a firm and a university does not matter for keeping together in a persistent collaboration.

Originalsprog	Engelsk
Artikelnummer	102389
Tidsskrift	Technovation
Vol/bind	111
Sider (fra-til)	1-12
ISSN	0166-4972
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2021.102389
Status	Udgivet - 7 mar. 2022

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
Persistence is defined as collaboration with a university in the two consecutive periods 2010?2012 and 2013?2015. In the survey, collaboration is conditional on innovation activity. Furthermore, collaboration is not necessarily contractually formalised or supported by public funds. Innovation activities are defined as having introduced new or significantly improved products, manufacturing processes, operations, organisational structures or marketing methods within the analysed period, or as having ongoing or abandoned innovation activities during the period covered by the survey. As firms that participate in the survey are asked about all of their innovation activities, they can have several ongoing as well as completed innovation activities at the same time. This is the case for approximately half of the innovative companies. It is not possible to determine from the survey whether the collaboration with a university during the period 2010?2012 involved a completed or an ongoing innovation project (or both). If the collaboration in 2010?2012 involves an ongoing innovation project, then collaboration in both periods 2010?2012 and 2013?2015 may reflect a long-term project collaboration rather than a repeated collaboration. However, in terms of persistence, the differences between long-term and repeated collaborations may not be substantial because projects without progress or perceived value added are likely to be terminated.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd

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10.1016/j.technovation.2021.102389

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RUNIN: The Role of Universities in Innovation and Regional Development
Østergaard, C. R. (Projektleder), Drejer, I. (Projektdeltager), Evers, G. (Projektdeltager) & Guerrero, D. F. (Projektdeltager)
EU Forskning
01/09/2016 → 28/02/2021
Projekter: Projekt › Forskning

Citationsformater

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AB - This paper investigates what distinguishes persistence in relation to university–industry collaboration on innovation from the initiation and discontinuation of a collaboration. The underlying premise is that if a firm continues to collaborate with a university, it must consider that collaboration to be valuable. A quantitative analysis of over 2,600 firms reveals that persistence is relatively common in university–industry collaborations on innovation, with more than a third of firms that engage in university collaboration continuing to collaborate with the same university over two consecutive periods. In addition, the analysis shows that firms’ investments in collaborative capabilities and different dimensions of absorptive capacity are instrumental for persistent collaboration with a university. Furthermore, persistent collaboration with a university is strongly associated with the strategic choice to engage in sustained collaboration with a broad range of partner types. Finally, the analysis reveals that geographical proximity between a firm and a university may facilitate the initiation of a collaboration, although the nearest university is not necessarily the most suitable partner. This is illustrated by the finding that geographical proximity between a firm and a university does not matter for keeping together in a persistent collaboration.

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Keeping together: Which factors characterise persistent university–industry collaboration on innovation?

Abstract

Bibliografisk note

FN’s Verdensmål

Adgang til dokumentet

AUB Link

Fingeraftryk

Projekter

RUNIN: The Role of Universities in Innovation and Regional Development

Citationsformater