Document Type

Conference Paper

Rights

Available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International Licence

Disciplines

Business and Management., 5.3 EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES

Publication Details

European Conference on Knowledge Management

Abstract

Interactions between university and industry or society mainly occur in the form of transfer and/or collaborations. However, both forms have mostly been discussed as transfer thus, the underpinnings of both forms are not often discussed. As a result, the tensions (contradictions, dialectics and paradoxes) embedded in the interactions are also overlooked (not explored). This paper proposes to explore the underpinnings of the both forms of interaction and the tensions therein. Transfer is often linked with incubation and acceleration with concerns around absorption and diffusion of knowledge and through channels such as publications, conferences, teaching and pedagogy, joint research and knowledge networks. It focuses on how to improve the unidirectional flow of knowledge (university to industry) with the aim to reduce rather than accept the tensions. Collaborations on the other hand are often linked to discussion of channels (publications, conferences, teaching and pedagogy, joint research, knowledge networks and civic engagement), and recently community engagement and engaged research. The concern is that channels and not the interaction forms of university-industry relationships are discussed. Also, occasions where interactions are (transactional and relational) discussed, both are discussed through a transfer lens. Accordingly, the paper synthesizes relevant literature to propose a framework for understanding the different interaction forms of university with industry/society. As a result, it unveils the peculiarities and tensions present in interaction forms. Therefore, by distilling existing literature, it puts forward a framework to examine the different interaction forms and address the question: What are the dynamics of the interaction forms for organizing across university and industry? The contribution to knowledge management is that exploring the interaction forms provides an understanding of transfer and collaboration. Such understanding is useful to university policy makers, research funding agencies and researchers. It is also useful to practitioners who want to engage with and utilise university expertise. This paper concludes by arguing that exploring the different forms of interaction ultimately provides understanding of engaged research. The frameworks which accepts the tension equips universities and policy makers on organizing across boundaries.

DOI

10.34190/EKM.20.132

Download
Contact the Author


Share

COinS