Crossing (or not?) the 'valley of death': University-industry collaborative e-platforms

The publication is available to ISPIM members at www.ispim.org.In the today’s era of the two-sided markets, the online knowledge market places (as yet2.com) are developing rapidly. Given the importance of the academia-business interface, for the economic development these online tools now emerge to assist knowledge transfer also between academia and business. However, despite their potential, the online marketplaces or platforms for university-industry innovation remain unexplored from a research perspective – although at least three streams of literature try to tackle this phenomenon to a certain extent: economics, sociology and computer science. Using nine case studies of such platforms from across the globe, we explore in-depth their role in crossing the ‘valley of death’ between academia and business. Analysing the academia-business online knowledge transfer intermediaries through the lenses of economics, sociology and computer science, we outline the theoretical scope of this emerging phenomenon, its key characteristics and share managerial as well as policy implications on its contribution to ‘crossing the death valley’

Triple helix knowledge interactions: A study of institutional, virtual and on-line intermediaries

Moving from a triple helix perspective, through quadruple and quintuple toward N-Tuple helices, the emphasis placed on the utility of knowledge and the effectiveness of knowledge transfer by the world’s leading economies only increases. Similarly, at an organisational level the shift toward knowledge sharing and open innovation reflects this also. Therefore, the importance of understanding the interactions between the respective stakeholders and the specific mechanism and structures being developed to facilitate and manage this activity, is imperative too. This will better enable us to maximise the potential offered to companies, universities and societies from knowledge sharing and exchange and this study focuses on one particular type of organisation operating within this intersection – intermediaries who facilitate knowledge or technology transfer. Firstly we identify a range of structural models that stakeholders from around the world have adopted to build their knowledge and technology transfer offerings. These range across institutional: through faculty-based; arms-length; peripheral; regional-virtual and virtual-online. The article discusses the relative merits of each structure before focussing in on one new and emergent mode – the virtual online platform. We then explore different on-line platforms before deriving a simple typology that begins to characterise their respective service offerings and major differentiating characteristics. Finally, the article showcases five specific offering, representing the respective typologies, before discussing their relative strengths and weaknesses and their fit with the wider structural offerings, presented in the earlier sections of the paper. The article makes a number of contributions. By identifying the respective structural configurations of intermediaries, researchers may compare and contrast each format and University senior managers can likewise consider the respective options before they select and launch their own knowledge or technology transfer office. Also by exploring and comparing the virtual online platforms, actors in the triple helix can understand how this new type of intermediation fits within the existing typologies

Innovation intermediaries in university-industry collaboration: analysis of online platforms

This paper was presented at The XXVII ISPIM Innovation Conference – Blending Tomorrow’s Innovation Vintage, Porto, Portugal on 19-22 June 2016. The full conference proceedings are available to ISPIM members at www.ispim.org.The importance of intermediation in university-industry collaboration (UIC) has been widely acknowledged, however, the phenomenon of UIC online tools is not yet studied in detail. In this paper, we examine fifteen UIC online platforms, identify their functions and role that they play in UIC. By combining secondary data with interviews with platform developers and users, we identify five main archetypes of collaborative online platforms: education-focused, knowledge transfer platforms, crowdsourcing platforms, networking tools and platforms for innovation marketing. We also present a number of the benefits the platforms bring. These tools reduce the time and resources spent establishing and managing collaborations; they help to make networking more targeted; they help to reveal the value that university research has for business and increase the adoption of university education. Our findings suggest that whilst facing some challenges, the platforms analysed represent a scalable, rapidly growing and more importantly demand-led business opportunity

Traditional, virtual, and digital intermediaries in university-industry collaboration: exploring institutional logics and bounded rationality

This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordUniversity-industry collaboration now extends beyond traditional intermediary structures and logics, enabled by more contemporary virtual networks and digital formats. This however poses new strategic and operational challenges for effective and responsive knowledge transfer. The purpose of this paper is to compare traditional models of knowledge transfer intermediaries in university-industry collaboration with emerging, virtual (network-based) and digital intermediaries by exploring their structures (thus institutional logics) and their services (their agency). We synthesise literature to form a comprehensive analytical framework to assess the structure and agency of twenty international knowledge transfer intermediaries from around the world. Further running a cluster analysis using multiple correspondence analysis method and following its results we propose a unique combination of institutional logic and bounded rationality lenses, which allowed us to identify four types of knowledge transfer intermediaries: rigid, rigid-unbounded, agent-bounded and agile. Our unique framework contributes to existing knowledge focused on traditional forms of knowledge transfer intermediaries, by identifying and positing institutional logics for emerging contemporary virtual and digital intermediaries in university-industry collaboration.Finnish Foundation for Economic Education (Liikesivistysrahasto)Scandinavian Consortium for Organizational Research (SCANCOR

Entrepreneurial academic entrepreneurs: understanding micro social factors and legitimacy

This paper was presented at The XXVII ISPIM Innovation Conference – Blending Tomorrow’s Innovation Vintage, Porto, Portugal on 19-22 June 2016. The full conference proceedings are available to ISPIM members at www.ispim.org.As universities transition toward being increasingly entrepreneurial there is, according to their emerging strategies, a call for a new breed of Entrepreneurial Academic. Academic Entrepreneurs, who spinning-out or starting-up new ventures, have been studied since the inception of academic capitalism in the late 1980s. Recently, policy and now research recognises less formal modes of business engagement attracts academics with an Entrepreneurial modus-operandi. However we know little about the distinctions between the two types of academics, the challenges they face, particularly how microsocial factors impact upon their motivations and legitimacy. This exploratory research reports on 3 matched-pair interviews comparing traditional and second career academics in a leading UK Business School. We find that career pathway affects the motivation to become an entrepreneurial academic and that the prevalence of organisational reward and recognition processes, support, norms and role models all impacted upon the perceived legitimacy of Entrepreneurial Academics

The effects of culture, attitudes and perceptions on industrial cluster policy – the case of Russia

Culture, attitudes and perceptions have an underappreciated effect on industrial cluster policies particularly in transition economies, where long-established local social norms are confronted with hard-pressed external imperatives. This paper examines the impact of cultural and governmental peculiarities in the Russian context on the development of Special Economic Zones and Industrial Parks. Based on some stylised facts about the Russian context, in-depth interviews and surveys of the managing companies and tenants of all industrial clusters in Russia, we find cultural and governmental characteristics emerge as major influences on the effective development of industrial cluster policies. We develop an adapted industrial cluster model that accommodates these factors and suggests a policy pathway for mitigation

University–industry collaboration: using meta-rules to overcome barriers to knowledge transfer

This is the final version of the article. Available from Springer Verlag via the DOI in this record.University–industry knowledge transfer is an important source wealth of creation for all partners; however, the practical management of this activity within universities is often hampered by procedural rigidity either through the absence of decision-making protocols to reconcile conflicting priorities or through the inconsistent implementation of existing policies. This is problematic, since it can impede operational effectiveness, prevent inter-organisational knowledge-creation and hamper organisational learning. This paper addresses this issue by adopting a cross-discipline approach and presenting meta-rules as a solution to aid organisational decision making. It is proposed that meta-rules can help resolve tensions arising from conflicting priorities between academics, knowledge transfer offices and industry and help facilitate strategic alignment of processes and policies within and between organisations. This research contributes to the growing debate on the strategic challenges of managing knowledge transfer and presents meta-rules as a practical solution to facilitate strategic alignment of internal and external stakeholder tensions. Meta-rules has previously only been applied in a computer intelligence context however, this research proves the efficacy of meta rules in a university–industry knowledge transfer context. This research also has practical implications for knowledge transfer office managers who can use meta-rules to help overcome resource limitations, conflicting priorities and goals of diverse internal and external stakeholders

Efficient large-scale underground utility mapping in New York City using a multi-channel ground-penetrating imaging radar system: International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE

Abstract Ground-penetrating imaging radar ("GPiR") is a new technology that combines standard GPR (Ground-Penetrating Radar) with accurate positioning and advanced signal processing to create three dimensional (3D) images of the shallow subsurface. These images can reveal soil conditions and buried infrastructure-such as utility lines and conduits-down to depths of about 2 to 3 m (in typical organic soils) with a resolution of centimeters. A commercial GPiR called the CART Imaging System, which was designed for mapping urban infrastructure, has been developed in collaboration between Witten Technologies, Malå Geoscience and Schlumberger. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) sponsored research leading to the development of GPiR. The CART system uses a radar array consisting of 17 shielded antennas (9 transmitters and 8 receivers) that cover a 2 m swath on the ground with 16 bi-static GPR profiles. Each radar element in the array is a wideband bowtie antenna with a peak frequency of 200 MHz and a bandwidth extending from 50 MHz to 400 MHz. The array can collect data while moving at speeds up to about 1 km/h. During operation, a laser theodolite tracks the position of the array at all times. The system collects enough data in a single pass over the ground to form a 3D image beneath its track; multiple side-by-side passes are stitched together-using the positioning information provided by the theodolite and special processing and imaging algorithms-to create a seamless image of the subsurface. GPiR was first tested on a large scale in December 2000, in a pilot project for Consolidated Edison Co. of New York (ConEdison) that mapped a large underground area near the intersection of 149 th Street, Southern Boulevard and Prospect Avenue in the south Bronx. Four nights of surveying covered an area of approximately 12,000 m 2 (nearly 3 acres). The positions of surface features, such as curbs, street signs, valve and manhole covers, were also surveyed with the theodolite to provide a local reference grid. Final images were visualized with large-scale maps and electronic movies that scroll through the 3D data volume in depth slices and show the enormous complexity of the subsurface in large cities

University Venture Capital in Big Data, Regional and Historical Perspective: Where and Why Has It Arisen?

This article contributes to the international comparative analysis of university venture capital (UVC), providing a partial quasi-experimental design for follow-up research and practice. The US venture capital industry, with its unicorn focused high-growth format opened up a venture capital gap. UVC transmutes academic innovation into high-tech firms, industries and regional renewal, filling interstitial funding gaps among, angel, public and private venture capital offers. It is knowledge based industrial policy by Another Name, with direct/ explicit and indirect/ implicit versions, on a continuum with variation depending upon shifting ideological and competitive concerns. Beyond as of right “womb” provision, UVC capstones an academic innovation ecosystem of technology transfer, incubation and acceleration, translational research, proof of concept funds and entrepreneurship education. Venture capital, exemplified by Sand Hill Road, deemphasizes classic regional development objectives, neglecting appropriability conditions such as academic and regional circumstances that UK and China prioritize. More modest firm formation outcomes are dismissed as failures, with entrepreneurs encouraged to return to the entrepreneurial churn. We examine the origin and development of UVC from macro, meso and micro, historical and comparative perspectives. Multi-method/multi sample, comparative case study, and big data analytics shows constraint and variety, early affinity of UVC to academic icons with significant untapped potential to inspire widespread economic and social advance