Best practices for industry-university research collaborations

Thesis (S.M. in Technology and Policy)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2009.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Includes bibliographical references (p. 56-59).This thesis reports a study of industry-university collaborations aimed at the development of best practices to enhance the impact of such collaborations on company competitiveness. The data sample involves twenty-five research-intensive multinational companies which engage in collaborative research on a regular basis. Over 100 different collaboration projects are analyzed through interviews with the responsible project managers and with senior technology officers. The interviewees provided both quantitative and qualitative information about the success and lack of success of the collaborations. Based on these data, seven best practices for managing collaborations have been defined which, when taken together, significantly contribute to the long-term success of the collaboration. These practices are: 1) select collaboration projects that complement company R&D; 2) select university researchers who understand specific industry goals and practices; 3) select project managers with strong boundary spanning capabilities; 4) promote longer collaboration timeframes; 5) provide appropriate internal support for project management; 6) conduct regular meetings at the company between university and industry researchers; and 7) build awareness of the university project inside the company.by Julio Alberto Pertuzé Salas.S.M.in Technology and Polic

Prevalence of smoking and incidence of initiation in the Latin American adult population: the PLATINO study

Background: the PLATINO project was launched in 2002 in order to study the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Latin America. Because smoking is the main risk factor for COPD, detailed data on it were obtained. the aim of this paper was to evaluate the prevalence of smoking and incidence of initiation among middle-aged and older adults (40 years or older). Special emphasis was given to the association between smoking and schooling.Methods: PLATINO is a multicenter study comprising five cross-sectional population-based surveys of approximately 1,000 individuals per site in São Paulo (Brazil), Santiago (Chile), Mexico City (Mexico), Montevideo (Uruguay) and Caracas (Venezuela). the outcome variable was smoking status (never, former or current). Current smokers were those who reported to smoke within the previous 30 days. Former smokers were those who reported to quit smoking more than 30 days before the survey. Using information on year of birth and age of smoking onset and quitting, a retrospective cohort analysis was carried out. Smoking prevalence at each period was defined as the number of subjects who started to smoke during the period plus those who were already smokers at the beginning of the period, divided by the total number of subjects. Incidence of smoking initiation was calculated as the number of subjects who started to smoke during the period divided by the number of non-smokers at its beginning. the independent variables included were sex, age and schooling.Results: Non-response rates ranged from 11.1% to 26.8%. the prevalence of smoking ranged from 23.9% (95% CI 21.3; 26.6) in São Paulo to 38.5% (95% CI 35.7; 41.2) in Santiago. Males and middle-aged adults were more likely to smoke in all sites. After adjustment for age, schooling was not associated with smoking. Using retrospective cohort analysis, it was possible to detect that the highest prevalence of smoking is found between 20-29 years, while the highest incidence is found between 10-19 years. Age of smoking onset tended to decline over time among females.Conclusion: the prevalence of smoking varied considerably across sites, but was lower among countries with national anti-smoking campaigns.Univ Fed Pelotas, Pelotas, BrazilUniv Republica, Montevideo, UruguayInst Nacl Enfermedades Resp, Mexico City, DF, MexicoUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilPontificia Univ Catolica Chile, Santiago, ChileCent Univ Venezuela, Caracas, VenezuelaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Tratamiento farmacológico del asma

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Strategic change and the coevolution of industry-university relationships : evidence from the forest products industry

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2014.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-287).In this thesis we present an analysis of the dynamics of industry-university relationships tracing the origin of the relationship and its changes over time as the firm's strategies evolve. We analyze the strategic trajectories of nine European and North American forest products companies, distilling four generic strategies, and linking those strategies to each company's university relationships as judged by publications records, academic trajectories of the company's personnel, and interviews with company managers. We found that firms are likely to form new university relationships when (1) integrating new positions in the value chain, (2) diversifying their industrial base, or (3) internationalizing the manufacturing base. When firms narrowed their business and geographical scope, however, they reduced university links. We found that building an industry-university relationship was a gradual process. Periods of strategic stability and bidirectional people flows strengthened these relationships. Changes in the firm's CEO, however, signaled modifications in the firm's university relationships. These modifications were contingent on the strategy pursued by the firm and pre-existing industryuniversity systems. Based on those findings, we derive a framework to describe how industry-university relationships evolve with changes in firm strategy. The thesis shows that changes in corporate strategy affect the formation and evolution of university relationships, an idea generalizable to other industries. The strategic change process of forest products firms, however, has features that may be applicable only to large, commodity-grade capital-intensive industries. In particular when confronted by change, forest products firms did not always evolve towards higher positions in the value chain, sometimes moving down this chain divesting internal technological capabilities. These "competency-destroying" cycles tended to coincide with periods of economic downturn. Because of the dissimilarities in the time scale for change, universities can act as "knowledge buffers" for of these cyclical industries, helping firms to regain lost capabilities and allowing corporate technologies time to mature despite changes in firm strategy.by Julio Alberto Pertuzé Salas.Ph. D

Fibrobroncoscopía experiencia en 473 procedimientos

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