The modern university: contributor to industrial innovation and recipient of industrial R&D support

The interface between industry and the universities is of key importance in the promotion of technological change in many industries. There is intense interest in the characteristics of universities that have contributed most importantly to industrial innovation in various fields, but unfortunately very little systematic study has been devoted to this important and complex topic. Also, we know little about the factors determining which universities firms will support to do R&D of various types. Based on data obtained from a carefully selected sample of major US firms in the electronic, information processing, chemical, petroleum, pharmaceutical, instruments, and metal industries, this paper sheds new light on these topics.