ISPIM – the International Society for Professional Innovation Management
Abstract
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’
