The technology of partnership

The study was an investigation into a set of factors that are important to the future of university-industry collaboration, and the management and use of knowledge to contribute to society. By examining the personal, group and organization patterns of thought and behavior in an Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC), the study furthered understanding of the social factors that enhance or inhibit collaboration. The investigation considered a number of theoretical and empirical perspectives in an attempt to understand what social factors make the movement of knowledge and know-how from the university to industry successful and effective. It also examined the roles played by the university and industry in the collaborative process, the development of institutional responses to collaboration like the industry-university cooperative research centers, the inter-organizational relationships necessary to advance collaboration, and social and interpersonal factors suggested by the findings that unlock the doors of interdependence and trust which are the key elements of the system that enhance or inhibit collaboration.