Industry–science collaboration for radical innovation: the discovery of phase-dependent collaborative configurations

Abstract

The organization of industry–science collaboration in case of knowledge transfer for radical innovation is central to this study. Based on a contingency notion, the relation between research and development (R&D) projects’ properties and the way of collaboration is explored. By means of in-depth interviews with industrial managers 32 projects were studied. We found two configurations: consortium-deluxe and research services-plus. The invention’s time-to-market was identified as the discriminating factor. The first configuration represents a large-scale consortium in which a firm over time informally adjusts the activities of some academic partners towards the objectives of its own project. In the research services-plus configuration, firms are looking for specific knowledge to complete their own, highly confidential projects. Because of internal deadlines, delay is undesired and the level of control is high. On the contrary to ‘classic’ research services, mobility plays an important role in services-plus. These configurations will help to reach more effective knowledge transfer.

Keywords:

• industry–science collaboration
• research & development
• knowledge transfer
• radical innovation