The different channels of university-industry knowledge transfer : empirical evidence from biomedical engineering

This paper explores the channels for knowledge transfer between university and industry. We perform a case study of the faculty of Biomedical Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology (the Netherlands), aimed at gaining insight in the relative frequency and perceived importance of different channels of knowledge transfer. The empirical material is based on a survey among university faculty members, supplemented by personal interviews. We use factor analysis and cluster analysis to arrive at a taxonomy of the knowledge transfer channels. The taxonomy distinguishes three types of respondents, and we employ regression analysis to relate the types to respondents’ characteristics. Our main finding is that part-timers (staff that holds both an appointment in industry and university) and respondents with a strong academic reputation form special types of ‘knowledge transferors’. Whereas part-timers rely strong on of personal networks, the latter group of respondents embraces traditional academic values and relies heavily on traditional academic channels of knowledge transfer (academic publications, conferences). On the basis of our findings, we draw a number of policy implications, among others that policy measures are not likely to be effective if they do not include a multitude of incentives and a wide range of channels.