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Managing a Major University–Industry Collaboration R&D Program

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Managing Collaborative R&D Projects

Part of the book series: Contributions to Management Science ((MANAGEMENT SC.))

Abstract

University–industry collaborations (UICs) play an important role in open innovation that can lead to the development of new products, processes, and services for society. Industries participate in UICs to expand their knowledge base, share risks on long-term problems, enhance their design thinking skills, and extend their ability to conduct experiments. Universities are attracted to UICs to secure more funding for research, field-test emerging laboratory science, and enhance research-led teaching. UICs are increasingly being supported by government funding agencies whose societal aims include enhancing employment, improving workforce skills, and expanding industrial growth. There are many challenges facing UICs that arise primarily from bringing together different organization cultures with diverse and often competing expectations. Major UIC programs that involve a large number of R&D projects bring additional challenges, including the definition of strategic program goals and the need for experience and management skills necessary for a large, temporary, multicultural organization. Many of these challenges have been studied within a major UIC program based in Portugal. The collaboration, presented as a case study in this chapter, involved an investment of €74m over 6 years and comprised 44 individual R&D projects with over 500 researchers. The research discussed in this chapter presents several outcomes from the case study and shares many of the lessons learned and practices that can be adopted in future UIC programs.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Coimbra, CEMMPRE, Coimbra, Portugal

    Gabriela Fernandes

  2. National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland

    David O’Sullivan

Authors
  1. Gabriela Fernandes
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  2. David O’Sullivan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gabriela Fernandes .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Coimbra, CEMMPRE, Coimbra, Portugal

    Gabriela Fernandes

  2. University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Lawrence Dooley

  3. National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland

    David O’Sullivan

  4. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Asbjørn Rolstadås

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Fernandes, G., O’Sullivan, D. (2021). Managing a Major University–Industry Collaboration R&D Program. In: Fernandes, G., Dooley, L., O’Sullivan, D., Rolstadås, A. (eds) Managing Collaborative R&D Projects. Contributions to Management Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61605-2_9

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