The determinants of university-industry collaboration in food science in Italy

Firms' collaboration with academic institutions expands their range of expertise and can support the development of business innovations in several industries. For technological as well as structural reasons, university-industry collaborations are especially important in the case of the food industry. This paper aims at assessing the drivers of knowledge transfer from academic departments to industry. We analyse the dynamics of private funding of university research activities and investigate the drivers of university knowledge transfer from food science university departments, identifying how they differ from drivers in other areas of science. The empirical investigation is based on the econometric analysis of financial data on the whole population of university departments in Italy. We provide some implications for policy, highlighting whether and how university food science departments differ from university departments engaged in other areas of science, and how their interactions with industry can be increased.

► We study the drivers of university-industry collaboration in Italy. ► We examine the growth of private funding for academic food science departments. ► We find that departments' size and access to an ILO increases collaboration. ► Research performance is a key driver of collaboration for food science departments. ► Geographical proximity to food companies has a positive effect on collaboration.