Factors that Impact on University-Industry Collaboration :Empirical Evidence from Sweden and Germany

Public policy supports knowledge and technology transfer from university to industry since it is frequently assumed to have a positive impact on innovation processes in firms. University-industry collaboration is especially encouraged although not all individual university scholars are equally interested in university-industry collaboration. The purpose of this paper is to assess to which extent certain factors relate to the decision of university researchers to collaborate with industry. It builds upon a survey of university professors in Sweden and Germany. It is shown that financial constraints, individual attitudes, and personal experience with patenting are related to industry collaboration. The regression results show that researchers who experienced a decrease in base funding and conduct applied research are much more likely to collaborate with industry. Furthermore, researchers who hold previous patents, have a positive attitude towards commercial issues and conduct research in the engineering sciences have a higher propensity to engage in industry collaboration.