TY - JOUR
T1 - Open innovation in science
T2 - assessing the formation and function of SME-university collaborations through the proximity matrix
AU - Johnston, Andrew
PY - 2022/2/1
Y1 - 2022/2/1
N2 - As university-industry collaboration is regarded as an important practice within the open innovation in Science (OIS) framework, this paper assesses the formation and function of these collaborations using the ‘proximity matrix’, evaluating similarities between actors through evaluating their closeness in terms of distance, network membership, knowledge base and working practices. Through presenting analysis of 22 in-depth interviews with SMEs, the findings outline that the process of SME-university collaboration is driven by the ability of the firms to both access (through social proximity) and understand (through technological and organisational proximity) their university partners. Furthermore, the results also suggest distinct roles for each proximity.
AB - As university-industry collaboration is regarded as an important practice within the open innovation in Science (OIS) framework, this paper assesses the formation and function of these collaborations using the ‘proximity matrix’, evaluating similarities between actors through evaluating their closeness in terms of distance, network membership, knowledge base and working practices. Through presenting analysis of 22 in-depth interviews with SMEs, the findings outline that the process of SME-university collaboration is driven by the ability of the firms to both access (through social proximity) and understand (through technological and organisational proximity) their university partners. Furthermore, the results also suggest distinct roles for each proximity.
KW - open innovation in science
KW - proximity matrix
KW - SMEs
KW - University-industry links
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119345731&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13662716.2021.1997725
DO - 10.1080/13662716.2021.1997725
M3 - Article
VL - 29
SP - 310
EP - 332
JO - Industry and Innovation
JF - Industry and Innovation
SN - 1366-2716
IS - 2
ER -