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The purpose of this paper is to present a strategic framework of successful knowledge transfer through the development of university‐industry interactions in China.

The research is designed based on a single case study with qualitative analysis. Data were collected through documentary analysis, semi‐structured interviews and participated observations of the commercialization project within Tsinghua University (China), which is one of the world leading research universities in science and technological innovation.

Four modes of university‐industry interactions during the process of knowledge transfer have been identified, which contribute to the success of knowledge transfer at different stages of university‐industry relations. They are: university‐dependent low sticky interaction; university‐dependent high sticky interaction; mutual‐dependent high sticky interaction; mutual‐dependent low sticky interaction. In addition, the development of entrepreneurial spirit within the university and the implementation of Professors of Practice have also been recognized as vital for building and maintaining effective university‐industry interactions.

The distinctiveness of this paper lies in contributing to the existing theories of knowledge transfer between university and industry by identifying the specific modes of interactions that contribute to the success of knowledge transfer between university and industry. The findings also have important implications for government policy makers, university academics and business practitioners for designing and implementing knowledge‐base innovation strategies and creating sustainable competitive advantages through successful knowledge transfer between university and industry. This may enable policy‐makers to understand the complexity and dynamics involved in the process of technology commercialization and take into account the importance of the institutional arrangement and appropriate incentive system in supporting effective knowledge transfer and commercialization.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new typology to leverage the different knowledge gaps existing between universities and industries. This new typology classifies interactions into training-oriented, diffusion-oriented, service-oriented, development-oriented, and research-oriented.

The Brazilian 2010 Census data available from the CNPq Research Group Directory were used to test the typology.

It was found that, among the five types of interactions proposed, the most frequent were the development-oriented (39 per cent), diffusion-oriented (23 per cent), and research-oriented (16 per cent) ones. These findings indicate that it is likely that university-industry (U-I) interactions have improved in terms of quality in an attempt to attain a joint higher technological development.

The paper provides the U-I interaction debate with a new perspective about the kinds of interactions that could effectively bridge the knowledge gaps between universities and industries, especially in a developing country context.

Este artigo propõe uma nova metodologia para reduzir as diferentes lacunas em termos de conhecimento existentes entre universidades e empresas. Esta nova tipologia classifica as interações em formadora, difusora, financiadora, desenvolvedora e pesquisadora.

O Censo de 2010 disponibilizado pelo Diretório de Grupos de Pesquisa do CNPq foi utilizado para testar a tipologia proposta.

Verificou-se que, entre os cinco tipos de interação propostos, os mais frequentes foram as tipologias desenvolvedora (39%), difusora (23%) e pesquisadora (16%). Esses resultados indicam uma provável qualificação das interações universidade-empresa justamente com o objetivo de alcançar um desenvolvimento tecnológico conjunto superior.

O artigo contribui com o debate sobre interação universidade-empresa, propondo uma nova perspectiva sobre os tipos de interação que efetivamente podem preencher as lacunas em termos de conhecimento existente entre universidades e empresas, especialmente no contexto dos países em desenvolvimento.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the operation pattern of the virtual university‐industry‐government (GUI) platform from the perspective of knowledge.

Following a theoretical framework, the case of the China Zhejiang Online Technology Market (ZJOTM) is analyzed, which has been viewed as a model of the national virtual GUI platform. The operation pattern and effect of ZJOTM are discussed. The material and data are collected mainly from ZJOTM web site.

According to the types of knowledge interaction between university and industry, this paper recognizes the context needed for knowledge interaction between industry and university as “virtual ba”, “physical ba” and “practice ba”. The virtual GUI platform just provides a virtual ba for knowledge interaction between industry and university. However, only “virtual ba” is not sufficient, “physical ba” and “practice ba” are also needed. Therefore, the operation of virtual GUI should utilize the complementary action of physical ba and practice ba. Moreover, it is better to deploy the ba flexibly according to the knowledge and sector characteristic.

The paper specifies the innovation knowledge rich in industry and university and the knowledge interaction context needed, that provides a favourable framework to study the operation pattern of the virtual GUI platform. The findings also have important implications for government policy makers, university and industry practice for designing and implementing knowledge‐base innovation strategies.

This article seeks to explore the micro‐dimensions of knowledge transfer partnerships (KTPs) with the aim of developing an appreciation of the personal interactions that facilitate the success of these university‐industry collaborations.

Empirical evidence concerning the operation of three KTPs, collected through interviews with the key partners and the review of relevant documentary material, is analysed through the lens of the communities of practice approach to situated learning.

The analysis of three case studies provides evidence to support the value of conceptualising the process of knowledge transfer between universities and industry as one of learning taking place within communities in which the development of mutual engagement, joint enterprise and shared repertoires play important roles facilitating successful collaborations. Moreover, the analysis highlights the significance of the boundary spanning roles of the KTP partners in facilitating the knowledge transfer process through engagement in both the university and industry communities.

By illuminating the dimensions of the inter‐personal interactions involved in the knowledge transfer process the CoPs analysis provides the foundations for recommendations to improve university‐industry KTPs, in particular, and, inter‐organisational knowledge transfer initiatives in general. A limitation of this research is its focus on the UK context. Moreover, given the exploratory nature of this study further research is required to verify the findings reported here.

The article makes an original empirical and conceptual contribution to understandings of university‐industry knowledge transfer collaborations.

This paper aims to investigate factors and weaknesses influencing university–industry interactions diffusion and success by focusing on the research services initiatives because there are limited studies in literature focusing on this specific form of interaction between the two actors.

The authors carried an explorative research based on multiple case studies referring to research services experienced between two big Italian universities and small and medium-sized enterprises located in the same area.

By conducting a cross-case analysis, the authors highlight categories of data in terms of factors influencing interactions’ diffusion and success, as perceived by researchers and by firms; and weaknesses in the interactions process to identify suggestions for improving interactions’ diffusion and success, from researchers and firms.

The outcomes provide managerial implications useful for agencies supporting the diffusion of innovation among firms and firms’ systems for defining new policies and action plans aimed at making the university–industry interactions faster and more effective, improving the innovation processes within firms.

This paper gives new insight in the analysis of factors enhancing university–industry relationships with a focus on research services collaborations and focusing both on university and industry, where large contributions focus predominantly on both groups.

In the context of university-industry interaction, little is known about construction patents. The purpose of this paper is to explore this aspect of construction innovation systems.

After a review of studies of academic interaction with the construction sector, applications for construction patents in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden for 2006-2010 were analysed. References to academic publications in US patent applications in three relevant classes were identified.

References to university interaction occur in construction patents, but only seldom and not for mechanical devices. Country differences in patent legislation, such as legal protection for utility models and concerning university ownership of patents, have little effect on construction patenting.

Further analyses of construction-specific relations between types of university-industry interaction are needed, as well as empirical studies of other regions.

Patterns found here should offer useful insights for firms designing their intellectual property strategies.

The findings suggest that government innovation strategies and internal university policies should recognise the wide variety of interactions with construction sector firms. Policies reflecting innovation systems in industries that depend highly on intellectual property rights should be reconsidered.

This analysis has exploited recent advances in searchable patent databases in several countries.

This paper seeks to redress the lack of academic attention being given to the relationship between academia and industry in the competitive environment of international higher education‐related service delivery and use. It adopts a relational marketing approach to value creation in service interactions and explore the expectations and perceptions of employers and university academics and practitioners. The research focuses on a comprehensive mapping of gaps in the international higher education service at large, and specifically in the context of degree programme development, recruiting international students and associated service interactions with industry. It highlights some of the issues pertaining to service quality, customer orientation and sustainability in international higher education and associated service delivery.

This paper is an exploratory case study set in the context of Finnish higher education. It relies on qualitative research methods and applies the GAP model for the analysis of the empirical data.

Five gaps and a surplus gap are identified in the delivery of high‐quality customer service in the context of university‐industry interactions in international higher education. To close the gaps between academia and industry, the relationship marketing approach is proposed.

The paper contributes to the research stream on university‐industry relationships. The results should help to enhance understanding of customer service delivery in the linkage between academia and industry. The novelty of the paper lies in the integration of the language and logic associated with customer‐oriented service delivery into the operational context of higher education service interaction between academia and industry.

This paper takes the stance that the continuous growth of international student degree mobility creates new opportunities for academia and business to collaborate to mutual advantage. To recognize, identify and exploit these opportunities, it is critically important to understand what boundaries stand between university‐industry partnering initiatives in international higher education (HE) and what interaction processes span these boundaries. The purpose of this paper is to develop a model of the boundary‐spanning functions and processes underpinning value marketing for strategic university‐industry partnering.

The paper employs interpretive phenomenological research methods. It takes an investigative case‐based approach, studying over time the boundaries, boundary roles and processes involved in university‐industry collaborative interaction in the context of Finnish international HE.

The findings suggest that conceptualization of the university‐industry boundary‐spanning processes in international HE needs to be extended to incorporate elements concerning the power, impact and management of the boundary roles. A better understanding and adequate managing of the boundary roles may help to decrease the perceived market demand uncertainty surrounding international HE. The findings also suggest that in‐depth research is needed for the development of a holistic understanding of how partnering for international HE is experienced.

This paper represents a first attempt to conceptualize university‐industry boundary‐spanning processes, both in a general manner and from a viewpoint of value creation in working partnerships between academia and business within the context of international HE.

The innovation process demands an interaction between environment agents, knowledge generators and policies of incentive for innovation and not only development by companies. Universities have gradually become the core of the knowledge production system and, therefore, their role regarding innovation has become more important and diversified. This study is aimed at identifying the mechanisms of university–industry (U–I) collaboration, as well as the operationalization steps of the U–I collaboration process.

This study is aimed at identifying, based on a systematic literature review, the mechanisms of university–industry (U–I) collaboration, as well as the operationalization steps of the U–I collaboration process.

The analysis of the 72 selected articles enabled identifying 15 mechanisms of U–I collaboration, proposing a new classification for such mechanisms and developing a framework presenting the operationalization steps of the interaction process.

In this paper, the authors screened nearly 1,500 papers and analyzed in detail 86 papers addressing U–I collaboration, mechanisms of U–I collaboration and operationalization steps of the U–I collaboration process. This paper provides a new classification for such mechanisms and developing a framework presenting the operationalization steps of the interaction process. This research contributes to both theory and practice by highlighting managerial aspects and stimulating academic research on such timely topic.

This work aims to analyze the university–industry interaction in innovation ecosystems. The problem under study addresses how agents can operate in university–industry interactions to enhance the connections, specifically in the aspect of operational mechanisms of an innovation ecosystem.

The study is qualitative, applied through grounded theory approach, cross-sectional and multiple sources of evidence – semi-structured interviews were conducted. An explanatory conceptual model was subsequently compared with the literature and validated with specialists.

The results showed that the university–industry interaction is influenced by several factors, such as networking, legal support, facilitating agents, management practices. Despite this, some other factors were identified for the improvement of U–I relationships, such as: strengthening of triple helix, greater legal certainty and encouragement of open innovation.

The small sample size and the heterogeneity among the universities interviewed did not allow full saturation to occur. In spite of that, a significant level of saturation with respect to the challenges and barriers was observed.

This work has a direct dialogue with researchers, managers and actors involved in university–industry interaction with regard to increasing the capacity for creation and dissemination of knowledge among organizations, educational institutions, government and companies.

By adopting a grounded theory approach, a detailed research agenda addresses research needs in two main areas: activities that precede the interaction between universities and companies, and the organization and management of the consequences of collaborative relationships.