University–industry linkages and academic engagements: individual behaviours and firms’ barriers. Introduction to the special section

The article introduces the special section on “University–industry linkages and academic engagements: Individual behaviours and firms’ barriers”. We first revisit the latest developments of the literature and policy interest on university–industry research. We then build upon the extant literature and unpack the concept of academic engagement by further exploring the heterogeneity of UI linkages along a set of dimensions and actors involved. These are: (1) Incentives and behaviours of individual academic entrepreneurs; (2) Firms’ barriers to cooperation with public research institutions; (3) Individual behaviours, incentives and organizational bottlenecks in late developing countries. We summarize the individual contributions along these dimensions. There are overlooked individual characteristics that affect the degree of engagement of academics and scholars in cooperating with other organizations, of which gender and the non-academic background of individuals are most crucial. The notion of academic engagement should be enlarged to aspects that go beyond the commercialization or patenting of innovation, but embrace social and economic impact more at large. From the perspective of the firm, barriers to innovation might exert an effect on the likelihood to cooperate with universities and public research institutes, most especially to cope with lack of finance or access to frontier knowledge. We finally propose a research agenda that addresses the challenges ahead

The triple helix strategy for universities in developing countries : the experiences in Malaysia and Algeria

This article addresses issues relating to the policy shift in developing countries aimed at making universities increasingly relevant to the socio-economic milieu by promoting the 'triple helix culture' as a sustainable basis for innovation and technological progress. The role of universities in creating, disseminating and sharing knowledge is highlighted. Using the experiences of Malaysia and Algeria, the article explores evidence to show the extent to which the triple helix system of relationships between university, industry and government could be expected to enhance the relevance of universities to developing countries as active agents of innovation and sustainable development