Shaping knowledge ecosystems through University–industry collaboration: exploring the ‘second-order’ impact of knowledge sharing
研究了大学与产业合作中的知识共享活动如何通过培育人力资本、构建教育结构和拓展研究影响，间接塑造周围的知识生态系统，并提出了一个双向影响的生态系统塑造模型。
While several studies have outlined university-industry collaboration’s (UIC) direct impact in creating value for the participating actors, few have addressed its indirect and long-term effect on the surrounding context or ecosystem level. This study examined how collaborative knowledge-sharing activities in UIC contribute to shaping the surrounding knowledge ecosystems. It also explored knowledge sharing’s influence that surpasses the involved organisations, called its ‘second-order’ impact, through the identification of mechanisms that contribute to shaping the surrounding knowledge ecosystem(s). It builds on an embedded case study of Swedish university-industry collaboration, centring on three competence centres and an affiliated industrial organisation. This paper outlined how the collaborative knowledge-sharing activities in UIC influence the surrounding ecosystem as manifested in three shaping mechanisms: nurturing human capital, building educational structures, and leveraging research beyond UIC. Further, it elaborated and discussed a model of ecosystem shaping showing UIC’s double impact in a bi-directional process.