Title: Science marketing – empirical data from South Africa

Authors: Joe Amadi-Echendu, Marthinus W. Pretorius, Thomas Baaken

Addresses: Department of Engineering and Technology Management, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa. ' Department of Engineering and Technology Management, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa. ' Science-to-Business Research Centre, University of Applied Sciences Munster, Corrensstrabe 25 48149, Munster, Germany

Abstract: The issue of university/industry collaboration in research and development projects is examined within the context of a technology colony such as South Africa. The study provides preliminary understanding on – (a) the extent of industry linkages with the |research-to-innovation value chain| and (b) the gap between university delivery and industry perception and expectations from R&D collaborations. The survey respondents include representatives of organisations that have engaged university researchers in collaborative projects. The non-probablistic data complement the view that regular engagement with universities occurs more on matters regarding acquisition of new knowledge. There was little evidence to suggest that knowledge so acquired was commercialised into the local economy, rather, the success factors for industry to collaborate with university on R&D projects within a technology colony include: (a) access to specialist and competent human resource skills, (b) access to specialist facilities, and (c) close matching of perceptions of delivery capability against industry expectations.

Keywords: science marketing; university-industry collaboration; technology commercialisation; South Africa; research and development; R&D; technology clusters; value chain; university delivery; industry expectations.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTIP.2006.011304

International Journal of Technology Intelligence and Planning, 2006 Vol.2 No.2, pp.129 - 141

Published online: 14 Nov 2006 *

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