University-industry collaboration: interaction structure and preconditions
Date
2023-05-03
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Abstract
„We, europeans are excellent in making science with money. But we are not so good at making money out of science,“ on öelnud Euroopa Komisjoni president Ursula von der Leyen.
Oskamatust genereerida kõrgetasemelisest teadusest sisendeid innovatsiooni ja majanduskasvu on juba 1990. aastatel nimetatud Euroopa paradoksiks. See probleem ei kimbuta ainult Euroopat – kõik innovatsiooni väärtustavad riigid seisavad silmitsi väljakutsetega siirata teaduslikku ja tehnoloogilist teadmist kommertsialiseeritavateks toodeteks ja teenusteks. Seetõttu on ülikoolide ja ettevõtete koostöö mitme kümnendi jooksul pakkunud innovatsiooniteadlastele rikkalikku uurimisainest.
Käesolev töö annab oma panuse ülikoolide-ettevõtete koostööalasesse teaduskirjandusse, avades seniste uuringutega võrreldes enam mehhanismi, mis kirjeldab potentsiaalselt eduka koostöö eeldusi ning pakkudes välja uue empiiriliselt testitud kontseptuaalse mudeli teadlaste ja ettevõtjate vahelise interaktsiooni uurimiseks.
Töö põhineb kolmel uuringul, mis on omavahel sünergiliselt seotud, iga järgneva uuringu lähtekoht kasvas välja eelmise tulemustest. Uuringu objekt on koostööd tegevate ülikooli teadlaste ja ettevõtjate vaheline interaktsioon. Selle analüüsimiseks laenati interaktsioonimudel tunnustatud semiootik Jüri Lotmanilt ning täiendati seda koostöö jaoks oluliste eeldustega: motivatsiooni ning innovatsiooni absorbeerimisevõimekuse kontseptsioonidega. Uuringu tulemusel kerkis esile töö keskne mõiste – (a)sümmeetria. Eelduslikult sujuva koostöö huvides on tarvis, et partnerite sisemine motiveeritus ja absorbeerimisvõimekus oleksid võrreldaval tasemel ehk sümmeetrilised, mis loob tugeva aluse potentsiaalselt sujuvaks koostööks.
Juhtudel, kus ettevõtluspartneri innovatsiooni absorbeerimisvõimekus on madalam ehk partnerite koostööeeldustes valitseb asümmeetria, on teadlastel võimalik pakkuda kompensatsioonimehhanismi juhul, kui nad aktiveerivad selleks teadlikult enda kasutusel olevad ressursid. Koostöös ettevõtetega toimib kompensatsioonimehhanismina teadlase kui väravavahi roll, mille eesmärk on soodustada teadmiste siiret. Lisaks on teadlaste avalikku kuvandisse n-ö ühiskondliku ootusena sisse kirjutatud panustamine ühiskonna heaolusse ning sellele ootusele vastamiseks koostöös ettevõtetega on teadlastel võimalik valida pro-sotsiaalne motivatsioon ehk keskenduda iseenda motiveerimisel koostööpartnerile.
"We, Europeans are excellent in making science with money. But we are not so good at making money out of science," has said Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. The difficulty in generating outputs for innovation and economic growth from high-level science has been referred to as the "European paradox" since the 1990s. This problem is not unique to Europe, all countries that value innovation face challenges in managing the transfer of scientific and technological knowledge into commercial products and services. Therefore, collaboration between universities and companies has provided innovation scholars with rich research material for several decades. This thesis contributes to the literature on university-industry collaboration by opening up mechanisms that describe the prerequisites for potentially successful collaboration and proposing a new empirically tested conceptual model for studying the interaction between academic researchers and entrepreneurs. The work is based on three studies, with each subsequent study building on the results of the previous one. The object of the study is the interaction between collaborating university researcher and entrepreneur. To analyse this, the interaction model developed by the recognized semiotician Jüri Lotman was borrowed and supplemented with the important prerequisites for collaboration: motivation and absorptive capacity concepts for innovation. As a result of the study, the central concept of the work emerged - (a)symmetry. To ensure a potentially smooth collaboration, it is necessary for the internal motivation and absorptive capacity of the partners to be symmetrical. The symmetry of collaboration expectations between partners set a strong foundation for potentially smooth collaboration. In cases where the entrepreneurial partner's absorptive capacity for innovation is lower, or where there is asymmetry in collaboration expectations, researchers are able to provide a compensatory mechanism if they activated the resources in their possession. In collaboration with companies, researchers act as gatekeepers to facilitate knowledge transfer. In addition, contributing to societal well-being is a societal expectation that is built into the public image of academic researchers, and in collaboration with companies, they can choose prosocial motivation, focusing on the partner rather than themselves when motivating themselves.
"We, Europeans are excellent in making science with money. But we are not so good at making money out of science," has said Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. The difficulty in generating outputs for innovation and economic growth from high-level science has been referred to as the "European paradox" since the 1990s. This problem is not unique to Europe, all countries that value innovation face challenges in managing the transfer of scientific and technological knowledge into commercial products and services. Therefore, collaboration between universities and companies has provided innovation scholars with rich research material for several decades. This thesis contributes to the literature on university-industry collaboration by opening up mechanisms that describe the prerequisites for potentially successful collaboration and proposing a new empirically tested conceptual model for studying the interaction between academic researchers and entrepreneurs. The work is based on three studies, with each subsequent study building on the results of the previous one. The object of the study is the interaction between collaborating university researcher and entrepreneur. To analyse this, the interaction model developed by the recognized semiotician Jüri Lotman was borrowed and supplemented with the important prerequisites for collaboration: motivation and absorptive capacity concepts for innovation. As a result of the study, the central concept of the work emerged - (a)symmetry. To ensure a potentially smooth collaboration, it is necessary for the internal motivation and absorptive capacity of the partners to be symmetrical. The symmetry of collaboration expectations between partners set a strong foundation for potentially smooth collaboration. In cases where the entrepreneurial partner's absorptive capacity for innovation is lower, or where there is asymmetry in collaboration expectations, researchers are able to provide a compensatory mechanism if they activated the resources in their possession. In collaboration with companies, researchers act as gatekeepers to facilitate knowledge transfer. In addition, contributing to societal well-being is a societal expectation that is built into the public image of academic researchers, and in collaboration with companies, they can choose prosocial motivation, focusing on the partner rather than themselves when motivating themselves.
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Keywords
innovations, universities, businesses, collaboration (econ.), interaction (sociology)