4/25/2000
"Research-intensive universities in all the industrialized democracies
are actively pursuing opportunities to commercialize the creative ideas of their
faculties," write the editors in the preface to this compilation of
articles on university-industry collaboration. Putting aside debate over
the appropriateness of such links, they examine how different institutions are
approaching the relationship between academia, innovation and economic
performance. By comparing the situations in Japan and the United States —
countries similar in economic and technological capabilities, yet different in
culture, tradition and university structure — they address underlying issues
such as who reaps the benefits of academic innovation and how much commercial
interchange exists between universities and industry in the global economy.