Collaboration between industry and research institutes/universities on industrial innovation in Beijing, China

Most R&D resources in China were allocated to public research institutes/ universities until the economic transition of the mid 1990s. To maximize the return from these resources, it is important to have a healthy collaboration between industry and research institutes/ universities on industrial innovation. This paper examines that relationship and discusses some empirical evidence on its efficiency with particular reference to industry in Beijing. Following a survey of 950 industrial enterprises, the influences of the collaboration relationship on industrial innovation were analyzed. The main findings indicate that the technology novelty of industrial innovation is positively related to that relationship, i.e. the more the collaboration, the higher the technology novelty of the innovation. However, the collaboration relationship is less efficient in terms of economic performance indicators such as innovation sales and profit ratios, to measure innovation. Moreover, the collaboration relationship is still far from efficient in stimulating industrial innovation in China. The major barriers to successful collaboration have also been addressed in this paper with the aim of devising policies and suggesting possible improvements to collaboration efficiency. © 2005 Taylor & Francis.