"The need for effective knowledge transfer among public and private research has never been greater than it is today. Companies, universities and research and technology organisations understand that leadership in their respective fields depends upon collaborating productively with each other, in ways that support and reinforce their distinct yet complementary missions. By now, the working practices and professional skills required for effective knowledge transfer are widely known and well documented. Unfortunately, many difficulties still remain, often relating to a need to better understand respective partners' interests and motives, to improve the management of intellectual property rights and deal with unrealistic expectations. At present, we are simply not capitalising adequately on the knowledge that is at our disposal. It is much easier to overcome these difficulties when sound conditions are established that provide a basis for long-term trust and lead to simple and effective rules of engagement at grass roots level. When we published the Handbook of Responsible Partnering, which contains guidelines based on good practices, we called on governments to give greater priority to establishing these conditions, and to work towards greater consistency across national boundaries. We have been promoting these guidelines widely within the business and public research communities during the past two years. We are grateful to the European Commission for now highlighting this priority also and for documenting important lessons learnt. We ask all governments to take notice of these lessons, and to continue the processes of reform and improvement necessary to secure European leadership in the knowledge economy." -- Editor.

The need for effective knowledge transfer among public and private research has never been greater than it is today. Companies, universities and research and technology organisations understand that leadership in their respective fields depends upon collaborating productively with each other, in ways that support and reinforce their distinct yet complementary missions. By now, the working practices and professional skills required for effective knowledge transfer are widely known and well documented. Unfortunately, many difficulties still remain, often relating to a need to better understand respective partners' interests and motives, to improve the management of intellectual property rights and deal with unrealistic expectations. At present, we are simply not capitalising adequately on the knowledge that is at our disposal. It is much easier to overcome these difficulties when sound conditions are established that provide a basis for long-term trust and lead to simple and effective rules of engagement at grass roots level. When we published the Handbook of Responsible Partnering, which contains guidelines based on good practices, we called on governments to give greater priority to establishing these conditions, and to work towards greater consistency across national boundaries. We have been promoting these guidelines widely within the business and public research communities during the past two years. We are grateful to the European Commission for now highlighting this priority also and for documenting important lessons learnt. We ask all governments to take notice of these lessons, and to continue the processes of reform and improvement necessary to secure European leadership in the knowledge economy.

A guide to maximizing the impact of work done at public research institutions and universities to boost innovation and growth.

Cooperation between science and business (S2B cooperation) is a very important issue from the points of view of the domestic economy, companies, and universities. This is mainly because such cooperation is a catalyst for faster and reliable development – not only of enterprises, but also of the entire economy. Thanks to S2B cooperation, enterprises can gain and commercialize new and ground-breaking solutions. Universities in turn can give their research a more practical dimension to increase its economic applicability, which helps universities prepare future staff to work in modern enterprises. The aim of this publication is to indicate how cooperation between universities and business can be implemented in an international dimension. It shows the role of modern universities in supporting the development of enterprise and entire economies as well as the role of modern enterprises that use resources located in universities (including knowledge resources). This unique combination has a positive impact on the results and developmental opportunities for each of them. Any potential obtained in this manner is the basis for creating a competitive advantage on the market. This book is devoted to a specific area of cooperation between enterprises and universities and will be of interest to researchers, academics, practitioners, and students in the fields of entrepreneurship, knowledge management, international relations, and higher education.

Universities and public research institutes play a key role in enabling the application of scientific breakthroughs and innovations in the marketplace. Many countries – developed and developing alike – have implemented national strategies to support the application or commercialization of knowledge produced by public research organizations. Universities and public research institutes have introduced practices to support these activities, for instance by including knowledge transfer to promote innovation as a core part of their mission. As a result, a vital question for policymakers is how to improve the efficiency of these knowledge transfer practices to help maximize innovation-driven growth and/or to seek practical solutions to critical societal challenges. This book aims to develop a conceptual framework to evaluate knowledge transfer practices and outcomes; to improve knowledge transfer metrics, surveys and evaluation frameworks; and to generate findings on what works and what does not, and to propose related policy lessons. This book is also available as Open Access.

While the US has traditionally been successful in commercialising new technologies, Europe is confronted with an increasing dependency for fast developing technologies like biotechnology or ICT, despite having some of the best universities in the world. This book will explore the key attributes of commercialising academic knowledge, focusing on spin-offs. Bringing together the visions and best practices used by leading academics and professionals across Europe, the editors provide new and practical insights on the topic in an attempt to resolve the European paradox.

The ways in which codified and tacit knowledge are sourced, transferred, and combined are critical in furthering open innovation. When used effectively, knowledge sharing and organizational success are significantly increased, improving products and services. The Role of Knowledge Transfer in Open Innovation is a collection of innovative research on a set of analyses, reflections, and recommendations within the framework of knowledge transfer practices in different areas of knowledge and in various industries. While highlighting topics including tacit knowledge, organizational culture, and knowledge representation, this book is ideally designed for professionals, academicians, and researchers seeking current research on the best practices for transfer of knowledge as an intermediate open innovation.

Knowledge transfer between universities, business and the community is a topical subject of increasing importance. The first International Conference on 'Innovation through Knowledge Transfer: Research with Impact', InnovationKT'09, held in Kingston, London, UK, provided a rare and welcome opportunity to share some of the successes of knowledge transfer. The conference attracted 150 delegates and featured 42 oral presentations. This volume, representing the proceedings of the conference, contains 35 papers based on selected conference presentations. The papers are divided into seven sections entitled ‘Key Knowledge Transfer Perspectives’, ‘Knowledge Transfer Case Studies’, ‘Innovative Knowledge Transfer Techniques’, ‘Strategic and Organisational Approaches to Knowledge Transfer’, ‘Knowledge transfer in the Arts and the Community’, ‘Knowledge Transfer Methodology and Practice’ and ‘Innovation and Enterprise’. The first InnovationKT conference was unique in gathering such a tremendous range of knowledge transfer experience and expertise. This volume forms a valuable resource for all those who are involved in knowledge transfer, or wish to know more about it. University academics can read examples of ways in which research can be commercialised, increasing impact and improving relevance. Knowledge transfer practitioners can find out about best practice in their subject and read case studies. Companies can read about how universities can help find solutions to their problems. We recommend this volume as a statement of the benefits that knowledge transfer can bring to all those involved.