Enhancing Co-Production Impact in Industry - Academia Collaboration: Insights from Five Industrial PhD Workshops

Abstract This paper analyzes how to enhance the impact of collaborative research between industry and academia, drawing on both theoretical insights and empirical findings from industrial PhD student perspectives. It builds on a previously published study by Sannö et al. (2019) that examined six co-production projects involving Swedish universities and global industrial partners, identifying key factors such as problem formulation, methodological alignment, and result dissemination. To complement this, five workshops with industrial PhD students were conducted to capture practical experiences of collaboration. These workshops, structured around the phases before, during, and after the PhD journey, highlighted challenges, suggestions, and reflections on navigating dual academic and industrial contexts. Together, they provide a bottom-up perspective on collaborative research. The findings show that successful collaboration requires not only methodological rigor and relevance but also relational and organizational alignment throughout the research lifecycle.