Fostering Innovation in Collaboration between Higher Education and Industry. A Systemic Model Based on Case Study

Abstract

This research focuses on collaboration between higher education and industry in connection to innovation and entrepreneurship creation. Competitiveness of firms, regions and nations depends on their innovativeness. Higher education fosters innovation and entrepreneurship by producing knowledge that sums to the existing knowledge of industry. There is a gap in research in combining entrepreneurial university research to the other mainstream theories. This research fills the gap by linking it to innovation management theory. It focuses on practical collaboration models between higher education and industry and creates a systemic model based on innovation management theories.

In this research the regional context is Satakunta region in Finland. It has a rich, diverse industrial base and has experienced a structural change and has been able to sustain its competitiveness. Satakunta University of Applied Sciences is used as a higher education case study and case firms are from automation, ICT and knowledge intensive business service sectors. The research is a constructive qualitative research where models are created and tested. Experimentation gives insights to the developed models and their application.

According to the research the systemic innovation management approach should be used in fostering innovation between higher education and industry. In this approach strategy, partnerships, dynamic networks, knowledge creation and combination, and created knowledge intensive firms, are important. The co-creation of innovations requires new completing combinations of knowledge. Knowledge intensive business firms started by students have an important role in interaction as innovators and in the transfer of knowledge. Actions based on a strategy create a sustainable basis for fostering innovation. Collaboration can develop into partnerships between actors. Teachers and students are a central resource. Considering students as equal actors means that students can grow into partnership with higher education. The research has implications both for theory and practice. The created models can be utilised in management of interaction and creation of innovations and entrepreneurship in collaboration between higher education and firms.