Leveraging social capital in university-industry knowledge transfer strategies: a comparative positioning framework

Abstract

University-industry partnerships emphasise the transformation of knowledge into products and processes which can be commercially exploited. This paper presents a framework for understanding how social capital in university-industry partnerships affect knowledge transfer strategies, which impacts on collaborative innovation developments. University-industry partnerships in three different countries, all from regions at varying stages of development, are compared using the proposed framework. These include a developed region (Canada), a transition region (Malta), and a developing region (South Africa). Structural, relational and cognitive social capital dimensions are mapped against the knowledge transfer strategy that the university-industry partnership employed: leveraging existing knowledge or appropriating new knowledge. Exploring the comparative presence of social capital in knowledge transfer strategies assists in better understanding how university-industry partnerships can position themselves to facilitate innovation. The paper proposes a link between social capital and knowledge transfer strategy by illustrating how it impacts the competitive positioning of the university-industry partners involved.

University-industry knowledge transfer - unpacking the “black box”: an introduction

“…3.3. University-industry (U-I) knowledge transfer (KT) issues Robertson, McCarthy, and Pitt (2019) argue that U-I partnerships emphasise the transformation of knowledge into products and processes which can be commercially exploited. Thus, they attempt to understand how social capital in university-industry partnerships affect knowledge transfer strategies, which impacts on collaborative innovation developments, across three different countries (Canada, Malta, and South Africa).…”

Investigating the Social Capital Theory in the University-Private Partnership: A Systematic Review

“…Table 2 summarises related review studies that met the purpose of this paper. The importance of SC in facilitating resources' transfer towards fostering UPP and organisation's innovation was proved in the following two traditional 'literature reviews' [2,5], one 'systematic review' [4], and one 'comparative review' [3]. According to de Wit-de Vries, et al [4], it has been proved the positive influence of SC in the context of 'academic engagement', comprising 'collaborative research, contract research and consulting' towards KT success.…”

“…The importance of SC factors such as trust, social norms, etc., is reflected in facilitating inter-organisational activities (knowledge transfer (KT) and technology transfer (TT)) between partners towards a successful partnership. Similarly, the lack of SC has been discussed as a KT/TT barrier between partners [2][3][4][5]. This present review is conducted to answer the following main research question: "How would the theoretical lens of SC inform research and learnings about UPP?".…”

The Role of Collaboration Breadth Attributes in Research Project and Innovation: The Example of National Funded Projects in China

“…After all, knowledge transfer paths across organizations are more standardized. Combined with knowledge sharing, flow, dissemination and disclosure of relevant literature [62,67,73], this paper suggests that the above factors may exist between the collaboration breadth of researchers and knowledge transfer. Finally, the results confirm the role of R&D subsidy and collaboration breadth in innovation activities and emphasize the differences of collaboration breadth at the organizations and researcher.…”