The growth of the knowledge economy and the changing relationship between science and society, have triggered the emergence of a ‘new role’ for universities as catalysts for innovation within national innovation policy frameworks. The Triple Helix concept of knowledge generation and innovation introduces triadic relationships between government, academia and industry. These often incorporate state driven aims of innovation development and diffusion for greater societal and economic benefit as conditions of the funding programmes. This concept is witnessed in the UK low carbon
energy innovation system, where collaborative relationships are formed to develop new technologies for application by
industry and society. The dynamics of the Triple Helix model bring many challenges to policy makers and those engaged in
knowledge transfer relationships, stemming from the inherent nature of knowledge and the complex human interactions involved with inter-organisational knowledge transfer. Low carbon innovation has an increased need for inter-disciplinary knowledge transfer where specialised pools of knowledge are brought together for the purposes of innovation, in
environments typified by uncertainty and unclear user impacts. Obstacles are compounded by the complexity of defining
knowledge transfer processes and the debate surrounding the transferability of knowledge. Significant additional challenges
exist within low carbon innovation, where influencing technology adoption by the public is seen as a multifaceted problem
with no easy solution and requires innovation outputs to be transformed to societal outcomes. This paper aims to explore
the nature of these challenges through a review of the literature on knowledge transfer, the continuing transition of
academia, government and industry within knowledge generation frameworks and the specific dilemmas faced by the low carbon innovation system. This literature review provides a foundation for future research which aims to explore the concept of knowledge transfer within the UK low carbon innovation system and gather empirical data pertaining to the optimisation of collaborative project performance
