Global Knowledge Transfer Framework: A University- Industry Collaboration Perspective

Today’s business environment is characterized by huge competing technologies, shorter product life with advent of new technologies in an ever-increasing pace. Current business paradigm has forced industries to seek help of universities, who are considered a powerhouse of innovations and intellectual minds. This collaboration environment poses more complex problems for effectively transferring knowledge. Although bridge system engineers who work as knowledge transfer facilitators between collaborating industries are quite common, such facilitators’ role in a university-industry collaboration setup has been less discussed. Our study aims at understanding specific roles of such facilitators called the “Bridge Managers (BM)”, in facilitating smooth knowledge transfer and to understand possible places for improvement. In the current business scenario, where collaborations span across regional boundaries, roles of such BM become increasingly difficult and complex. Our study tries to understand these problems related to university-industry collaborations in a multicultural setup.