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University research and knowledge transfer: who interacts with industry, and why?| Lead Investigator : Andy Neely | Project Investigator: Pablo D'Este, Surya Mahdi and Bassil Yaghi | Timescales: | Project Outline: This research project investigates what are the conditions that favour academic researchers to engage with users in general, and industrial partners in particular. This research examines both organizational and individual aspects, in order to understand why certain academic researchers strongly engage in knowledge transfer activities, while others do not. Furthermore, the research aims at examining the circumstances under which research quality and knowledge transfer complement each other, as well as the circumstances that might lead to a conflict between the two.
| Proposed Methods: The research is based on a mixed approach. On the one hand, a quantitative approach to analyse the factors shaping the extent to which researchers engage in knowledge transfer activities. This is based on data collected from: EPSRC awards, Web of Science, and a dedicated university researchers level survey on the nature of university-industry collaborations. On the other hand, the research will also draw upon qualitative research, based on data obtained from interviews with academic researchers and heads of university departments. Some of the Outcomes from this project so far Author(s): Pablo D'Este and Andy Neely Title: Science and technology in the UK: 2006 census Report: AIM Report 2007 Advanced Institute of Management (AIM) Research (ISBN 978-1-906087-00-5) Available at: http://www.aimresearch.org/academicpub.html Author(s): Pablo D'Este and Markus Perkmann Title: Why do academics work with industry? A study on the relationship between motivations and channels of interation. Conference: DRUID 2007 Summer Conference Copenhagen (Denmark) 18-20 June 2007. http://www2.druid.dk/conference/ Author(s): Kate Bishop and Pablo D'Este Title: Gaining from interactions with university: multiple methods of building absorptive capacity. Conference: Academy of Management Conference, 2007. Philadelphia, PA (US): August 3-8, 2007. http://meeting.aomonline.org/2007/ | Key Messages from Our Research so far… Academic researchers differ greatly in terms of their engagement in knowledge tranfer activities. Researchers use a wide variety of mechanisms in their knowledge transfer activities. Patenting do not only account for a small share of interaction channels, but also seem to follow different rationales as compared to other channels of knowledge transfer.
| Future Plans | Member Profile Pablo completed his PhD at SPRU (University of Sussex) in 2003. The title of the thesis is 'Uncovering the origins of firm heterogeneity: evidence from the pharmaceutical industry in Spain'. Pablo joined the Cranfield School of Management in March 2006 and has been working with Prof. Andy Neely (CBP, Cranfield University) and with the other members of the Cranfield team: Surya Mahdi and Bassil Yahgi. Pablo has been also conducting research with other members of the IPGC programme, such as: Kate Bishop, Ammon Salter and Markus Perkmann. | Links to other researchers | News and upcoming events | Outputs: Journal Contributions – Refereed Conference Contributions – Refereed | Working/Work in Progress Papers |
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