___________________________________________________________________________

For research organizations, relations with industry can be a source of financial revenues but these linkages may also reinforce or complement their technical expertise in some areas, giving access to the in-house R&D facilities of companies. Collaboration is not always easy; the tension between research and commercial rationales can emerge. Conflicts of interests need to be appropriately managed and the disparity of the time horizons of partners reconciled.

B. Supporting industry-science linkages at different stages of the innovation process

From research to the market

Two types of research can be distinguished:

•Basic research. It focuses on gaining a fundamental understanding of any subject. Many times this is done with no specific application in mind, despite the existence of a broad intention to address some relevant needs for society.

•Applied research. It tends to be focused on specific needs, with a particular focus on commercial potential.

A decentralized research structure has a number of advantages:

•It avoids the disconnect between students and the research base that may emerge in a centralized system. This separation is harmful to innovation, since students are eventually a source of entrepreneurship.

•It facilitates a competitive environment for funding research, which can result in a more efficient system for R&D. Instead of restricting investment in research to specific universities, the allocation of resources can be open to wider competition.

The process of knowledge transfer from universities to businesses

Successful knowledge transfer between higher education and business requires the presence of a number of preconditions. Information regarding these elements needs to be established as part of a feasibility study, if it does not exist already. This would allow a correct diagnosis of the problems and the means to address them.

The factors to consider include:

•The involvement of higher education organizations that have a strong research capability in niche areas of significant commercial opportunity.

•Subjects of higher education research which complement and overlap the regional business base or clusters in order to speed and enhance the relevance of knowledge transfer.

58 Policy Options and Practical Instruments

___________________________________________________________________________

•If appropriate, support for this process from physical property developments such as pre and full incubators, innovation centres or science parks. All of these are able to create a physical platform for supporting lasting knowledge transfer relationships.

•The existence of appropriate brokerage arrangements to link specific business needs with relevant academic expertise.

•Having a willing public sector partner with funding to resolve issues where there is either clear evidence of market failures or non-productive R&D results which need to find their way into the commercial domain.

•The engagement by the public sector needs to be flexible. This means that contributions must adapt to address changing circumstances and emerging threats, for example, slowdown of economic growth, new competitors or opportunities.

The role of the institutional setting

Overall, there is a wide cross-country diversity of institutional settings in public science, reflecting:

•The history of institutional development;

•The different missions assigned to public science within the national innovation system; and

•The specific priorities of science and technology policies.

Despite this diversity, some good practices in the institutional setting in public science can be identified regarding success factors in industry-science relations (see Table 3.2.).

In essence, these good practices emphasize:

•The importance of decentralization;

•The crucial role of incentives; and

•The value of mixed (public-private) systems of financing.

___________________________________________________________________________

Table 3.2. Industry-science relations (ISR) and the institutional setting in public science

Source: Benchmarking Industry-Science Relations. The role of framework conditions, Final Report of the Research Project, 2001, Coordinated by the Institute of Technology and Regional Policy, Joanneum Research.

Addressing intellectual property issues

An important component of national strategies on innovation concerns how to deal with intellectual property (IP) that results from government funded research programmes. This domain of public policy has two important dimensions:

•Operationalizing policy objectives with regard to IP; and

•Facilitating the technology transfer process.

Policy initiatives regarding IP in science need to be mindful of the broader social objectives regarding the dissemination of knowledge, as distinct from the maximization of licensing revenues by public research institutions (Box C3.2.).

60 Policy Options and Practical Instruments

___________________________________________________________________________

Box C3.2. Facilitating industry-science relations through intellectual property initiatives18

United Kingdom

As part of a web-based toolkit, the British authorities introduced in 2005 a set of model agreements to help business-university collaborative working and speed up negotiations for intellectual property (IP). The toolkit aims to take the hassle out of negotiating collaborative research agreements. It particularly focuses on financial contribution, the use and exploitation of IP, academic publication and confidentiality. The toolkit includes:

•Draft text for five different types of business-university agreement;

•A decision tree to help the user identify which agreement to use;

•Clear guidance notes on each part of the agreement; and

•A list of all the issues covered in the agreement.

Ireland

A National Code of Practice for Managing and Commercialising Intellectual Property from PublicPrivate Collaborative Research was issued in 2005, under the auspices of the Advisory Council for Science, Technology and Innovation and Forfás. The Code aims to achieve a higher degree of national cohesion on this topic, resulting in significant benefits for stakeholders and encouraging greater investment. The Code provides a set of principles and a consistent starting point for negotiation in establishing collaborative research agreements, including a flexible approach to the issues of ownership and rights of exploitation of research outcomes. An important purpose of the Code is to enable all prospective partners to approach new collaborations with a common understanding of the IP issues involved. It is intended that using this as a starting point for negotiation will help speed up negotiation times and conclude more agreements.

The technology transfer process (Box C3.3.) crucially depends on the skills of the professionals engaged in it. Therefore, technology transfer professionals should be appropriately trained. Public initiatives can provide support to professional associations to encourage professional training to their members. An example is the funding granted to the Association of University Industrial Liaison Officers in the UK.

18 Source: www.innovation.gov.uk/lambertagreements; www.sciencecouncil.ie.

___________________________________________________________________________

Box C3.3. Supporting Technology Transfer19

Poland

The Technology Transfer Centre (TTC) of the University of Krakow is a place of contact between the scientific and business communities. TTC promotes innovation, and implements international projects aimed at the development of science and the enhanced competitiveness of Polish enterprises. TTC has already been in operation in southern Poland for 10 years, facilitating contact between technology-related enterprises and research institutions, establishing partnerships, and providing advice to organizations that have applied for financing from EU Framework Programmes and Structural Funds. The TTC acts as an advisory centre for SMEs, provides training and assists in the preparation of grant applications. In addition, it encourages academic entrepreneurship, helping students and academics to establish their own businesses and manage enterprises in their initial phase, including through financial support.

Romania

The West Regional Development Agency, together with four universities and other regional research and development institutions created in 2006 the Tehimpuls Regional Centre for Promoting Innovation and Technology Transfer. Tehimpuls aims to stimulate the regional economy and to increase the competitiveness of enterprises in the West Region by structuring a local market for R&D and encouraging innovation through brokerage services. The centre provides assistance for developing innovative services and commercializing the results, and for encouraging collaboration between enterprises and R&D institutes, increasing awareness on innovation and technological transfer in the region.

Collaborative research

Collaborative research is one of the forms of relationships between industry and science, which is consistent with the principle of open innovation. A set of guidelines on collaborative research (Responsible Partnership), defining a voluntary code of conduct, has been elaborated by European associations representing industry, research and technology organizations, Universities and knowledge transfer organizations. A summary of these principles can be found in Table 3.3.

19 Source: Contribution by members of the UNECE Team of Specialists on Innovation and Competitiveness Policies (Poland, Romania).