Enabling university-industry linkages:
Co-adaptive collaboration and university environment
Sidath Alwis
Turku School of Economics
University of Turku
University-Industry Interaction Conference, June 2019
Helsinki, Finland
Overview
• University-industry interaction is widely discussed focusing the partnership developed
between universities, industries and government or Triple-Helix partnership and it is
important contributor for innovation in Knowledge-based economy.
• Partners have to overcome fundamental issues on organizational cultures and
institutional barriers between university research and commercial operation
process of industry.
• The understanding about the needed system modifications and process
adaptations for interactions are still limited.
• Most universities in developing countries are predominantly teaching institutions. Majority
of interactions with industry are limited simply to ‘problem solving type’ engagements.
• This paper explores how the organizational and operationalizing related constraints
in universities and firms could be overcome by developing interactions in a form of
co-adaptive manner aiming necessary and possible system modifications in both
entities
Motivation
• Lack of discussion in literature on applicability of advanced country experiences
(best practices) in lagging regions.
• Lack of discussion on applicable processes for university-industry linkages (UILs);
This is important for innovations in emerging economies.
• Understanding is still limited on system modifications and process adaptation.
• Lack of attention on organizational adaptation and learning related to higher
education institutions.
• There is growing attentions in South Asian context to improve UILs to facilitate for
socio-economic development and UIL process related studies get attention.
• In Sri Lanka, there is growing enthusiasm for UILs with successes and failures.
The Setting:
- South Asia and Sri Lanka Country
• In Sri Lanka the university expenditure on
R&D is about 11 % from total GERD*. It is
45% for government research institutes and
44% for business enterprises.
• Over nearly a decade, however, greater
emphasis has been placed on university
R&D focusing socio-economic impact.
• In Sri Lanka, there is no clear
specification in university act on
commercialization of university innovations
and research.
*GERD – Gross domestic expenditure on R&D
Rank - performance/ Capacity
Firm-level FDI and Uni.Capacity
tech.
tech- Industry of
absorption transfer collab. in Innovation
R&D
Malaysia
17
13
11
14
Indonesia
39
44
30
31
Thailand
42
42
39
69
India
73
59
26
42
Sri Lanka
79
99
54
66
Pakistan
88
69
63
80
110
130
97
Bangladesh 96
Source: Global competitiveness report, 2017-18,
World Economic Forum
The Setting
- A parallel study Academics’ perspective on current
situation of UILs
Percentage of respondents of key barriers
andto
admin.
policies
DelaysFinancial
occurred due
the adherence…
Teaching
and admin.
commitments
Time
constraint
due to heavy
teaching…
Lack of conducive policies
collaboration
Thereforare
no policies
Lack System
of system
flexibility
is not
flexible
Lack of Entrepreneurial
Lack in entrepreneurship
skills and skills
gene
SATISFIED
33%
UNSATISFIED
67%
University
culture
University culture
Lack of support
University management
No- management
commitment
Lackofofnew
newtechnology
technology
Lack
No proper
interface
for UILs
No interface
between
university
and…
Lack of
of motivation
motivation
Lack
Lack of autonomy to work with
industry
Bureaucracy
Academics’
attitude
Attitude of
the university
staff
Lack
Lackof
ofscientific
clear IPRpolicies
rules for(IPR)
U-I…
Risk
aversion
attitude
Industries
don’t
like to of
getfirms
risk
Geographical
proximity
Geographical
locationof
ofunv.
the…
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
% of respondents
60%
70%
Research aim and question
AIM:
• To explore how the organizational issues (culture, systems and
operationalizing related constraints) in universities and firms could be
overcome by developing interactions in a form of co-adaptive manner
aiming necessary and possible system modifications in both entities.
RQ:
• How university-industry linkages (UILs) are developed in a coadaptive manner to create successful collaborations.
Methodology
• The case study method used for the study.
It enables to aggregate rich data from variety of sources and important for triangulation and
validation of findings to increase credibility.
• Qualitative approach was used for the case study.
• Data collection through semi-structured interviews (total 37 key informants) and
through secondary sources.
• Key informants were academics and researchers of universities and directors,
managers and R&D staff of respective firms.
• Data analysis through content analysis method.
Findings of the study
• Two forms of co-adaptation - Intra-organizational and Inter-organizational
Key contexts
(1)
Intra-organizational
co-adaptation
-In the Univ.
environment
(Administration
and academics)
Aims of co-adaptation
Flexible alternatives
for regulatory issues
Form linkage
mechanisms
Concrete actions
Academic spinoff formed (non profit)
with mutual connection to
University
Spinoff activity as
– Intermediary contact point
– Interface
– Linkage unit
– Services to other uni. service units
– Change agent for academics
Findings …..
Key contexts
(2)
Inter-organizational
co-adaptation
-University and
industry partner
Aims of co-adaptation
Concrete actions
Smoothening the
interacting process
–Dedicated team formation in Firm
– Transferring business process
know-how to academia
Optimizing
operational efficiency
Reciprocal communication
Collaborative
operationalization
Shared operational activity
Flexible co-creation
Affirmation of operational flexibility by
MoU to create alternatives for issues
– facilitate to adjust operational process
– Firm’s involvement in procurements (R&D
inputs) and short-term recruitments
Conclusions
• This research present a notion of co-adaptive collaboration for the success
of university-industry linkages.
• The case study identify the process of the development of co-adaptive
collaboration and the desired aims and concrete actions induced for the
process.
• This research argues that co-adaptation could be developed within
universities to enhance their third role and also in between the university
and the firm during the process of collaboration aiming successful
outcomes.
• It helps to advance the understanding on university-industry interaction by
conceptualizing it as a coadaptive process and incorporating the concept of
co-adaptation into the university capabilities for industry interactions.