Content area
Full Text
Abstract
A management framework has been successfully utilized at Imperial College London in the United Kingdom to improve the process for developing and managing university-industry research collaborations. The framework has been part of a systematic approach to increase the level of research contracts from industrial sources, to strengthen the university's academic base, and to diversify the provision of research at the university. This management approach is composed of two main platforms of activity: an industrial sector or channel focus (sector platform) and structured management methodologies to facilitate the research collaboration process (process platform). Application of this combined management framework through an engineering program case study at the university helped to significantly increase the university's industrially funded research portfolio in the aerospace and defense sector. Evaluation of the framework against comparative models for collaboration revealed that the management system provides a broad coverage of knowledge, social and financial or cost-based factors. The framework has been demonstrated as a suitable tool for research administration staff and those involved with initiating and managing research collaborations.
Keywords: University-industry research collaboration; research development; research management.
Introduction
A large proportion of universities in the United States and Europe have traditionally focused on undergraduate education, with a lesser emphasis on research. This has largely been the case since many of these institutions were founded (Bozeman & Boardman, 2003). There are, however, a smaller but significant number of universities where considerable research is undertaken. Such universities tend to receive research funding from a range of sources, including government organizations, charitable foundations, philanthropic donations, and industry (D'Esté & Patel, 2007). This latter source is likely to include industrial funding for contract research, collaborative research projects, consultancy and technical advisory work, as well as the development of intellectual property through licensing of patents and other commercial activities (Perkmann & Walsh, 2007). The ability for universities to develop such commercial activities has a number of benefits; however, competition among academic institutions can be intense (Wimsatt, Trice, & Langley, 2009), and the success rate for proposals submitted to industry is often low.
The benefits for universities in undertaking commercial projects include access to additional financial resources to fund doctoral and post-doctoral positions; the potential to develop intellectual property; the provision of an application context for research...