Leveraging knowledge, learning, and innovation in forming strategic government–university–industry (GUI) R&D partnerships in the US, Germany, and France

Abstract

The linkage between theory on knowledge management and strategic management provides a framework for understanding the imperative for collaborative research partnerships, particularly those involving government, university and industry actors. The emergence of collaboration is facilitated by the sharing of knowledge across organizational boundaries, which promotes the formation of trusted relationships and builds social capital for further cooperation. Furthermore, these partnerships are a vehicle for accelerating organizational learning and for coordinating trans-organizational “communities of innovation”. Understanding the nature, process, and content of such collaborative research and technological development ventures can endow with strategic insights both the government policy making and the corporate strategy crafting that informs, shapes, and evolves such partnerships. In particular, government and industry can learn from past experience on how to design intelligent trans-organizational knowledge interfaces to ensure that knowledge sharing occurs across organizational boundaries. A cross-sectional analysis of representative cases of GUIs from the US, Germany, and France, yields a preliminary list of key considerations and corresponding strategic management skills which firms must develop to participate in win–win–win GUI alliances.