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Australia's Cooperative Research Centre Program: A transaction cost theory perspective

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  • Sinnewe, Elisabeth
  • Charles, Michael B.
  • Keast, Robyn

Abstract

Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) in Australia are underpinned by funding from the Australian Government. Among their many goals, they are intended to lead to long-term sustainable relationships between industry and academic institutions without the need for further public funding. Yet concerns have been raised in various reports and reviews about the ability of CRCs to achieve sustainable collaboration beyond their initial seven-year life, despite the general observation that CRCs have proved beneficial to the broader Australian community and the economy in general. This study adduces Transaction Cost Theory to determine the impediments to long-term sustainable collaboration between industry and academia. It does so by examining relationships between CRC members at a member organisational level, rather than at an individual researcher or program level, as previous studies have done. The article concludes by introducing testable governance attributes that have the potential to minimise transaction costs between participants in industry-academic collaboration and therefore foster long-term research collaborations.

Suggested Citation

  • Sinnewe, Elisabeth & Charles, Michael B. & Keast, Robyn, 2016. "Australia's Cooperative Research Centre Program: A transaction cost theory perspective," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 195-204.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:45:y:2016:i:1:p:195-204
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2015.09.005
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    Cited by:

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    2. Hua Cheng & Shiqian Huang & Yinhong Yu & Zhiying Zhang & Meifen Jiang, 2023. "The 2011 Collaborative Innovation Plan, University-Industry Collaboration and Achievement Transformation of Universities: Evidence from China," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(2), pages 1249-1274, June.
    3. Järvi, Kati & Almpanopoulou, Argyro & Ritala, Paavo, 2018. "Organization of knowledge ecosystems: Prefigurative and partial forms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8), pages 1523-1537.
    4. David Noble & Michael B. Charles & Robyn Keast, 2023. "Valuing intangible outcomes from the Cooperative Research Centres‐Projects program," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 47-62, March.

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