Business and academia seek trust-based partnerships

European higher education is changing from a supply-driven to a demand-driven system, placing new emphasis on knowledge transfer, regional regeneration and wider public debate, according to a joint university-industry report. 

Achieving effective knowledge exchange and technology transfer between research and industry involves “acknowledging that the role of higher education institutions is changing,” concludes a recently-published report on the state of university-business R&D collaboration in Europe.

The report notes that “the pre-eminence of teaching, learning and research is increasingly being complemented by a new emphasis on knowledge transfer, social inclusion, local and regional regeneration, and attention to the wider public debate,” which represents “a deeper transformation in higher education from a supply-driven system to a demand-driven one”.

Based on the findings of a recent conference on responsible partnership between research and business, the report also notes that a consistent view is emerging of the bases for effective collaboration and underlines the value of establishing “trust-based partnerships” as key to turning more research results into marketable goods and services.

The report notes that there is a strong desire to gain these benefits without “polarising the interests of universities against companies” and that this can be done by establishing working practices that make sense to all actors. 

However, a number of barriers still need to be overcome. In particular, businesses tend to find contract negotiations too long, whereas public research entities find that industry does not treat their intellectual property rights (IPR) equally. In addition, cross-border opportunities for collaboration are often difficult to identify.

Furthermore, the report states that, compared to the United States, India or China, “stereotypically, traditions of lengthy philosophical debate and too much central management hinder the emergence of the ‘can do’ attitudes that are required to make progress in this important area”. 

Finally, the report outlines a number of solutions to overcome existing barriers. These include more ‘open innovation’ between public research entities and businesses, removing regulatory barriers to collaboration and establishing ‘innovation ecologies’ balancing collaboration and competition and linking basic and applied research. 

The Responsible Partnering Initiative is a voluntary code of conduct for enterprises and public research designed to maximise the benefits of collaborative research for all parties. It was launched in 2004 by the European University Association (EUA), the European Industrial Research Management Association (EIRMA), the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations (EARTO) and the pan-European Association of Knowledge Transfer Offices (ProTon Europe). 

Increasing access to knowledge by sharing research results and improving knowledge transfer between public research and industry was identified in April 2007 as one of the objectives of the relaunched European Research Area (ERA). A Commission communication on the issue argued in favour of creating the right conditions for this and promoting an entrepreneurial mindset. 

The Commission has also proposed voluntary guidelines as well as a recommendation on the management of intellectual property in knowledge transfer activities to help the parties to collaborate more effectively.

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