Lambert Review of Business-University Collaboration: Final Report

Posted: 24 Nov 2009

See all articles by Richard Lambert

Richard Lambert

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: 2003

Abstract

This review of business-university collaborationin the United Kingdom has three objectives: (1) to illustrate opportunitiesarising from changes in ways that business undertakes R&D and thatuniversities are collaborating with business partners; (2) to recognizebusinesses already collaborating with university departments, which are rolemodels for those without university links; and (3) to offer ideas andrecommendations to shape policy. Points out two new trends shaping business world-wide: Firms are doing lessresearch and development (R&D) of their own and instead seekingcollaboration; and business R&D is going global, and being located nearimportant markets. Three needs are identified: (1) that universities mustbetter identify their competitive research strengths; (2) that government mustbetter support business-university collaboration; and (3) that business mustlearn to exploit innovations being developed by universities. Comparatively, UK businesses have low research intensity. Analyzesthedemand for research from business, identifying the need to raisebusiness demand for research from all sources. Some proposals for buildingnetworks among research-intensive businesses and supporting business-universitycollaboration are offered. Also offers recommendations for encouragingcommunication between business people and academics, to support knowledgetransfer. Universities have the potential to transfer knowledge from their strongscience base to business in the form of intellectual property (IP). However, anumber of barriers to commercializing IP are discussed. First is lack ofclarity of IP ownership in collaborations; second is variable quality ofuniversity technology transfer offices; third, more emphasis should be put onlicensing technology and less on developing university spinouts. Because universities play increasing roles in regional economic development,this analysisrecommends English Regional Development Agencies shouldchange their targets to creating relationships between business anduniversities across regions and nations. The current dual support system of university funding had strengths andweaknesses. The analysissuggests that this system offersdisincentives to business-university cooperation. A number of principles toencourage business research are presented, and the UK government is urged toconsider the balance and fill the research funding gap. A voluntary code of governance for university management is suggested, asare strategies for improving professional and entrepreneurial skills forstudents. Overall, the report concludes that despite much good collaborativework, more remains to be done. Four appendixes identify the goals of thereport, give the draft code of governance, summarize its recommendations, andlist contributors to the report. (TNM)

Keywords: R&D expenditures, Government funding, Licenses, University spinouts, Educational policies, University-industry relations, R&D, Technology transfer, Commercialization, Interfirm alliances, Globalization, Regional development, Colleges & universities, Academic research, Academic funding

Suggested Citation

Lambert, Richard, Lambert Review of Business-University Collaboration: Final Report (2003). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership Historical Research Reference in Entrepreneurship, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1509981

Richard Lambert (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Abstract Views
5,665
PlumX Metrics