The Role of Individuals and Funding in University–Enterprise Partnerships in Europe. A Cross-National Approach

Abstract

The present article focuses on knowledge exchange in European universities as viewed through the lenses of university–enterprise partnerships1. The empirical material is drawn from six European countries (Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Poland) and the analysis is performed at three distinct levels: six national case studies, eighteen institutional case studies, and ten partnership case studies, with different units of analysis: countries, individual academic institutions, and individual institutional partnerships. The structure of the article is as follows. After this introductory section, the analytical framework is presented in section two. Next, the article explores two major partnership parameters: in section three, the role of individuals (academics/administrators) in establishing and running successful partnerships; and in section four, the role of public authorities, public subsidies and private donations in operations of successful partnerships. Section five presents tentative conclusions. In general, research findings are linked to current discussions in the knowledge transfer and science policy literatures on the growing role of knowledge exchange and university–industry linkages in the knowledge economy, with particular emphasis on the role of individual vs. institutional characteristics in successful university–industry collaborations and the role of the public/private mix in funding and governance modes in partnerships.