Organizational models in university-industry collaboration: international perspective

This paper aims at developing a taxonomy, which uses both institutional and functional criteria. Departing from the assumption that there are several evolutionary stages in the development of university-industry collaboration, which embrace unstructured to fully structured and complex modes, the paper identifies five stages: (i) ad hoc collaboration at an individual level, (ii) development of internal support structures, (iii) creation of autonomous support structures, (iv) setting up of individual enterprises and (v) national and transnational networking. These five development stages include organizational forms, such as Industrial Liaison Offices, University-Industry Research Centers, Trading Companies, Foundations, and, Affiliate programs and Consortia. Each of these organizational models is reviewed in terms of its objectives, functioning and predominance in different regions of the world. Without attempting to be exhaustive specific case examples are included from the African, Western European and Latin American countries. These case examples draw particular attention to some of the crucial management aspects in the development of university-industry collaboration. These lessons will refer to the choice of an appropriate organizational model. It will provide also some guidelines for the strategic and operational management of these relations.