University-industry communication for economic growth and innovation

University and industry (U-I) are the main sources of knowledge and innovation which are increasingly becoming the main pillar of competitiveness at micro and macro level. Despite potential synergies and benefits for the involved agentes, economies and society, communication between university and industry in the scope of innovation remains limited for decades. While a number of tools exists to stimulate U-I communication for innovation and the recognition for the need to ensure crossfertilising academic and industrial resources is increasing, currently implemented strategies rarely translate into long-term U-I engagement into co-innovation. Literature recognises i/organisational barriers, ii/ lack of adjustments of the strategies to stakeholders needs and local socio-economic conditions, and iii/ lack of tolls and strategic measures modernisation among the main reasons for poor results of the support strategies (Al-Agtash & Al-Fahoum, 2008, Vries et al., 2019). Therefore, better understanding how to address those challenges is needed. As a reaction to the current state, our study is centred on the main research question – How to build effective strategies for U-I communication for innovation? To contribute to the solution, we are looking at specific tools and measures with potential to enable effective U-I communication for innovation across the barriers and the tools applicability. We approach the issue by means of systematic literature review, multiple regression and structural equation modelling. Within initial systematic review we map the existing knowledge to define which tools could be applied to bridge the main identified U-I communication barriers, such as differences in pourpose, standards and procedures or culture or language gaps. That process allowed us to from one side define which tools can be used to bridge each of the identified gaps and from the other side reviled a broad number of gaps in the current body of knowledge that do not allow decision makers design effective knowledge based strategies. In our empirical studies we address a limited number of the identified gaps, specifically: i/ lack of clear empirical evidence regarding different impact of policy measures within different economic contexts; ii/ lack of modern studies on information and communication technology (ICT) influence on U-I communication, iii/highly limited amount of quantitative and comparative studies in the scope of U-I communication, iv/ lack of studies regarding international scope of U-I communication for innovation. In the first place, in chapter 3 we analyse how applicability of macro-level tools may differ in countries at different development levels and whether the impact of U-I communication on economic development differs. Furtherly, in chapters 4 and 5 we analyse applicability of computer mediated communication (CMC) in the scope of cross-organisational communication with engagement of university and industry. We specifically look at the potential of a groupware system to build social capital (that was previously shown to have the ability to bridge U-I communication barriers) and how specific functions can support usefulness of such a tool to enable effective U-I communication for innovation. Our main findings show empirically that the level of U-I communication is insufficient to significantly stimulate economic development. Countries at all development levels struggle to reach a critical mass of effective U-I communication for innovation and need to adjust their strategies to support U-I communication. Supporting increase in quality of research institutions and private R&D invetments is relevant at all development levels, while staff training related with absorptive capacity is relevant at lower development levels. However, our results suggest that, creating effective strategy for fostering U-I communication requires its adjustment to economic environment as the governmental mechanism can result in both, positive and negative influence on U-I communication. Meanwhile, on cross-organisational level, such a communication and its sustainability may be supported by providing effective means for computer mediated communication at the interface between organisations. To generate such a result, information and communication technology needs to provide social usefulness and mechanisms for building social capital. Functionalities enhancing participatory character and transparency of cross-organisational communication and providing interactivity within computer mediated communication shown enabling character for overcoming cross-organisational barriers.Em 1987, num estudo da comunicação dentro do sistema sueco de inovação Höglund e Persson (1987), baseando-se no estudo da literatura dos últimos 15 anos, mostraram que a comunicação entre a indústria e a universidade (U-I) no âmbito da inovação é extremamente limitada. O nosso estudo dos 32 anos seguintes sobre área sugere claramente que, apesar do crescente do reconhecimento dos potenciais benefícios da comunicação U-I na inovação e das tentativas dos agentes governamentais e sociais para incentivar o envolvimento mútuo das universidades e da indústria na investigação e inovação, o progresso alcançado não foi significativo. Höglund e Persson (1987), embora reconhecessem a falta de conhecimento sobre a génese do problema, especularam que as possíveis razões para tal estado se encontrariam na relevância limitada da investigação básica com aplicações práticas e na generalizada falta de contacto entre diferentes agentes do sistema de I&D. Desde então, a literatura estudou a questão em detalhe, mostrando que, por um lado, o problema está nas barreiras organizacionais da comunicação U-I (Gera, 2012; Vries et al., 2018) e, por outro, na falta de ferramentas e sistemas adequados para que a comunicação U-I para a inovação ocorra de forma natural e não mediada (Bayne et al., 2016; Suomi et al., 2019). A literatura destaca especialmente que a comunicação U-I é fortemente obstruída por diferenças de objectivos, culturais e linguísticas, lacunas de incentivos ou diferenças de procedimentos e padrões de qualidade (Plewa et al., 2013a; D’Hooghe 2017; Vries et al., 2019). Enquanto isso, postula-se que uma comunicação eficaz na inovação traz benefícios significativos não apenas para os agentes envolvidos, mas também para a economia e para a sociedade (Martins, 2016; Suomi et al., 2019). A importância da comunicação entre universidade e indústria está a aumentar especialmente devido à mudança do mercado global em direção à concorrência baseada no conhecimento e à crescente importância de tecnologias inteligentes e inovação que, devido à sua complexidade, exigem o envolvimento de uma ampla gama de conhecimentos multidisciplinares. Neste ambiente económico, a falta de envolvimento de diferentes agentes com experiência em inovação e em múltiplas disciplinas exclui as economias de competir eficazmente nos principais sectores, gera custos através de oportunidades perdidas e duplicação de esforços, pode levar a uma maior marginalização das regiões menos desenvolvidas (MacLead et al., 1997 ; Sheen & MacBryde, 1995; Hotaling et al., 2012; Kopczynska & Ferreira, 2018). Enquanto isso, a falta de comunicação U-I eficiente no âmbito da inovação tem sido relatada não apenas em regiões menos desenvolvidas na área da inovação (Hassen, 2018), mas também entre os líderes em inovação (Suomi et al., 2019; Kim & Jang, 2019). Apesar da popularização recente de conceitos como universidade empreendedora e modelo de hélice tripla ou quádrupla, apesar dos investimentos governamentais significativos em estratégias que incentivam a comunicação U-I ou aumentam o reconhecimento da terceira missão da universidade, o problema da comunicação U-I insuficiente continua a ser um problema global. Embora atualmente o conhecimento sobre as barreiras da comunicação U-I seja extenso, falta entender como usar efetivamente ferramentas e estratégias para as superar (Kim & Jang, 2019). A literatura mostra especialmente que, enquanto países de todo o mundo investem em medidas para apoiar a comunicação e a colaboração U-I (Cooke, 2002; Peng et al., 2017), os seus esforços geralmente levam a resultados altamente limitados e insustentáveis (Lissoni, 2010; Suomi et al., 2019; Kim & Jang, 2019). Isto sugere que a compreensão atual das complexidades relacionadas com as estratégias para promover a comunicação U-I para inovação é limitada e a sua melhoria poderia contribuir para melhores estratégias de suporte e melhor capitalização dos recursos de conhecimento. A literatura enfatiza especialmente que as questões estão relacionadas com i/ a tendência de transferir ingenuamente práticas bem-sucedidas entre países, com diferentes contextos económico e culturais, sem a devida compreensão e / ou adaptação (Macleod et al., 1997; Salem & Amjed, 2008; Sandberg et al. al., 2015; Kim & Jang, 2019), ii / falta de modernização das medidas aplicadas aos desafios e oportunidades atuais (Paslowski et al., 2015; Kim & Jang, 2019), iii / foco na transferência unidirecional de conhecimento, em vez de na comunicação baseada em ciclos de feedback e dialogo para inovação (Kodama, 2002; Peng et al., 2017; Hayden et al., 2018). Nesse âmbito, o nosso estudo tem como objetivo contribuir para a discussão e a resolução de problemas, analisando, em primeiro lugar, a literatura académica para integrar o corpo de conhecimentos existente a uma abordagem mais holística, procurando entender 1 / como as ferramentas e mecanismos específicos podem contribuir para superar as barreiras existentes entre a comunicação U-I e quais são as aplicações, os fatores de transferência e as condições; e 2 / identificar lacunas e deficiências no corpo de conhecimento que devem ser abordadas para permitir que quem deve tomar decisões e partes interessadas envolvidas gerem estratégias eficazes para maximizar a comunicação U-I para inovação. Além disso, a literatura geralmente sugere que a resolução requer estratégias modernas e a vários níveis, permitindo que a comunicação U-I ao nível macro - o nível relacionado ao sistema de políticas e inovação (Lee & Yoo, 2007; Ranga et al., 2008; D'Hooghe 2017; Hassen, 2018), e micro – o nível organizacional e de ferramentas relacionadas (Ranga et al ., 2008; Korzhenevskaya, 2014; Howarth & Monasterolo, 2016; Martins, 2016). Assim, seguimos com estudos empíricos de estratégias de nível macro e ferramentas facilitadoras de nível micro que permitem a comunicação U-I. Especificamente, abordamos a questão da necessidade postulada pela literatura de ajustes de estratégias aplicadas às condições socioeconómicas de regiões e nações (Vick & Nagano, 2018; Kim & Jang, 2019), analisando se as diferenças no impacto da comunicação U-I no desenvolvimento económico difere entre países a diferentes níveis de desenvolvimento, e se o potencial de intervenções específicas para estimular a comunicação U-I difere entre países dependendo com o seu desenvolvimento. Por outro lado, abordamos a necessidade de modernização das abordagens atuais, não apenas analisando mais estratégias, mas estratégias direcionadas, também analisando empiricamente o potencial e as condições do uso de soluções de grupos de trabalho (groupware) na comunicação entre organizações para não servir apenas como canal eficaz de comunicação, mas como ferramenta de facilitação para superar as barreiras organizacionais existentes. Reconhecendo a necessidade da inovação aberta para o modelo bidirecional e não linear de interação da U-I (Butcher & Jeffrey, 2005; Lauder & Atkinson-Grosjean 2011), a tese geral visa contribuir para estratégias de envolvimento dialógico da U-I no âmbito da inovação. A literatura atual concentra-se no problema da questão da comunicação da UI para inovação na fase de envolvimento até o primeiro projeto ser concluído (Plewa et al., 2013a). Enquanto isso, a inovação é um processo complexo que resulta de interações não lineares, processos de aprendizagem e colisões entre diferentes ideias, agentes, visões ou sistemas (Leydesdorff & Etzkowitz, 1998; Fields, 2006; Tidd & Bessant, 2014). Precisa, por um lado, de integrar os produtores de conhecimento e inovação e os proprietários de produtos - indústria e/ou universidade; com agentes responsáveis pelo ambiente e suporte à inovação - agentes de políticas, intermediários e cadeia de suplementos. Por outro lado, precisa de um fluxo constante e não linear de comunicação e interações para alimentar o mecanismo de inovação, considerando que a inovação geralmente acontece como resultado de interações inesperadas (Tidd & Bessant, 2014). Conforme apresentado por Levallois et al. (2019) o caso da criação de um novo campo de pesquisa de programas de neuromarketing, os benefícios postulados das interações U-I aumentam não apenas na comunicação U-I estruturada. Também a comunicação pura do progresso ou feedback básico pode estimular o desenvolvimento nas áreas de pesquisa e inovação. Por outro lado, a comunicação estruturada não pode ocorrer sem sistemas eficazes para estabelecer contactos iniciais e fornecer informações claras sobre os recursos potencialmente disponíveis entre parceiros (Ranga et al., 2008; Venditti et al., 2013). A comunicação tem forte inter-relação com a inovação, influenciando-a em todas as etapas. Desde colisões, convergência e divergência de ideias (Pendergast & Hayne, 1999; Shinn, 2005) até a fase de envolvimento contínuo, resultando em comunicação U-I sustentável para a inovação (Plewa et al., 2013a; Plewa et al., 2013b). Tal demonstra ser de importância crítica para qualquer forma ou estágio de interações inter-organizacionais. O que está a mudar é apenas a forma, formalidade e tópicos trocados (Plewa et al., 2013b). [...

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