Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey hosted a workshop on University-Industry Interaction on November 26-27, 2015
The workshop was organised by:
EUROLICS
METU Knowledge Transfer Office, Middle East Technical University, Ankara
METU Technology Park, Middle East Technical University, Ankara
Science and Technology Policies Research Center (METU-TEKPOL), Middle East Technical University, Ankara
In the last century, universities have played a significant role in stimulating technological change and innovation. The recent decades have witnessed a change in the mission of the universities generally known as “third mission”, namely their social mission in disseminating knowledge to and interacting more broadly with the surrounding society, in addition to conducting education and research. This dissemination and interaction is often realized in the form of entrepreneurial university. It is sometimes advanced that the commercialization of research and knowledge is controversial as to its possible impact on research, especially basic research that cannot easily have a market application. However, as current research on this issue points to, different types of university-industry interaction may have repercussions even on funding of basic research if an appropriate balance is ensured between the two. In this context, the concept of “university innovation pipeline” used in the literature adds value both to the knowledge processed in universities and its complementary counterpart in industry.
By using this framework, EUROLICS organized a workshop to exchange knowledge on various forms of university-industry interactions and to analyze challenges for establishing these interactions. Main organizer and program responsible was Professor Erkan Erdil from Middle East Technical University in Ankara.
Program and presentations
Presentation of Eurolics, Ina Drejer, Department of Business and Management, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Invited session I
Achieving Impact through Collaboration, Catriona Manville, Senior Analyst, RAND Europe, Cambridge, UK
Session I
Firms’ Innovation-Oriented Collaboration with Specific Universities: Does Geographical Distance Matter?, Ina Drejer and Christian Richter Østergaard, Department of Business and Management, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
University-Industry Relations: Different Solutions to Common Problems, Semih Akçomak, ODTÜ-TEKPOL, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
Evolution of Technopark Policy in Turkey: Political Influences and their Implications, Huseyin Emrah Karaoğuz, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
Session II
Industry-Academia Collaboration for E-Government Service Development: Learning from Practice of Innovative TÜRKSAT-University Case, Tunç Medeni, Yıldırım Beyazıt University and Halil Yeşilçimen, Türksat, Ankara, Turkey
Entrepreneurial Universities Comparison of Pre-Incubation activities in the universities of EU and Turkey, Emek Barış Kepenek, Başkent University, Department of Sociology, Ankara, Turkey
Invited Session II
Drivers and Barriers for University-Industry Interactions in Turkish Space and Aeronautical Industry
Serkan Özgen, Middle East Technical University, Turkey, Osman Soylu, Undersecratiat for Defence Industry, Turkey, Özcan Başoğlu, Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Turkey
Session III
High-Growth Firms in Turkey As a Policy Option, Murat Demirez, Science and Technology Policy Studies, Middle East Technical University and KOSGEB, Ankara, Turkey
Stakeholder Building Processes of R&D based Startups: The Case of Techno-entrepreneurs in Turkey, Elif Kalaycı, Atılım University, Department of Economics and SAEL Laboratory, Ankara, Turkey
Session IV
Catching-up and the Role of University/Industry Linkages in Emerging Economies: Case of Turkey, Erkan Erdil, ODTÜ-TEKPOL Research Center and Department of Economics, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
Invited Session III
Drivers and Barriers for University-Industry Interaction in Turkish Interfaces
Murat Akman, Boğaziçi University, Turkey, Kuzeyhan Özdemir, Bilkent University, Turkey, Erhan Akın, Fırat University, Turkey