A proactive approach to the utilization of academic research : The case of Uppsala University's AIMday

• While most research on university-industry interactions focuses on established collaborations, this paper focuses on those interactions that occur before the emergence of a concrete relationship. Uppsala University, Sweden, applies this 'proactive' approach, based on creating universityindustry cooperation platforms before, or irrespectively of, the creation of commercializable knowledge. This study aims to analyze the structure, processes and effects of proactive approaches to utilize academic research commercially. It focuses on a conference, Academy Industry Meeting day (AIMday) and addresses three main questions: first, how does this mechanism work? Second, why do different actors, such as researchers, small and large companies, participate? Third, what values and concrete effects do they obtain from it? Our case study reflects the perspectives of industry, academia and the administrative units organizing the event. We find that some reasons to participate and values are important to all participants, but that there are also considerable differences.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business (hsv//eng)

Keyword

academic engagement

commercialization of science

informal mechanisms

university-industry interactions

Uppsala University

proactive

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)