University–industry linkages in the UK: What are the factors underlying the variety of interactions with industry?

This paper examines the different channels through which academic researchers interact with industry and the factors that influence the researchers’ engagement in a variety of interactions. This study is based on a large scale survey of UK academic researchers. The results show that university researchers interact with industry using a wide variety of channels, and engage more frequently in the majority of the channels examined – such as consultancy & contract research, joint research, or training – as compared to patenting or spin-out activities. In explaining the variety and frequency of interactions, we find that individual characteristics of researchers have a stronger impact than the characteristics of their departments or universities. Finally, we argue that by paying greater attention to the broad range of knowledge transfer mechanisms (in addition to patenting and spin-outs), policy initiatives could contribute to building the researchers’ skills necessary to integrate the worlds of scientific research and application.