Context perspective on University-Industry Collaboration processes: A systematic review of literature

Studies on University-Industry Collaboration (UIC) have mainly focused on processes at the individual and institutional levels. The result has been a proliferation of literature on aspects of UIC implementation processes often accounting for contextual differences. A survey of previous systematic reviews showed a gap in integration of knowledge on UIC implementation processes from a holistic and economic context perspective. This systematic review of the literature seeks to cover that gap by integrating the literature on UIC implementation processes from developed and developing countries contexts. In total 68 publications were reviewed and the data extracted were qualitatively analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Three major themes are distinguished: channels of interaction, UIC mechanisms, and barriers to UIC. The channels of interaction were often presented in categories. The most comprehensive were found to be bi-directional, traditional, commercial and service channels. It was found that commercial channels are ranked by both industry and academia as the least important and the least preferred by collaboration actors. The review discerned three major forms of UIC implementation processes: (1) educational collaboration, (2) academic entrepreneurship and (3) research related collaboration. Mechanisms of implementing these three forms of interaction vary, but continuous interactions are frequently proposed as the best method of knowledge transfer, contrasting with the traditional linear view of UIC processes. Regarding barriers to collaboration, five categories of barriers (misalignment barriers; motivation related barriers; capability related barriers; governance-related barriers and contextual barriers) are identified. The review indicated also that there is still a research coverage gap in developing countries compared to developed countries, and that the educational collaboration form is somehow neglected. It is therefore recommended to use an action research approach to advance research in developing countries and to provide extra attention to educational collaboration mechanisms since this form is among the preferred means of UIC. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.