Entrepreneurship & Innovation Research Seminar: Open Innovation and University–Industry Relationships
About this seminar
This Entrepreneurship & Innovation Research Seminar features two talks examining how organisations collaborate to innovate. The session explores open innovation in Industry 4.0 process change and long-term university–industry licensing relationships, drawing on international empirical research.
Speakers and talks
Talk 1 (14:00–14:30): "Open innovation and hybrid governance as enablers of process innovation: A multi-stage analysis of robotic arm implementation"
Speaker: Thanapat Udomsirikun, PhD Student, Newcastle University Business School
Talk 2 (14:30–15:30): "Coming Back for More: University–Industry Repeat Licensing Relationships"
Speaker: Dolores Modic, Associate Professor in Innovation and Management, Nord University Business School
Dr Modic is currently a visiting researcher at the University of Cambridge, Institute for Manufacturing, Innovation and Intellectual Property Lab (IIPM). Her research focuses on technology transfer, intellectual property management, and innovation for the circular economy.
Abstracts
Talk 1
Open innovation (OI) is increasingly recognised as important for Industry 4.0 adoption. However, limited empirical research explains how OI supports the implementation of complex technologies as process innovations and how inter-firm governance enables such collaboration. This study addresses these gaps by examining the implementation of robotic arms through an in-depth case study of ThaiCane, one of Asia’s largest sugar producers and a major global exporter, based on 31 semi-structured interviews.
Adopting a process perspective grounded in the implementation lifecycle framework proposed by Voss (1992), the analysis traces how OI and governance mechanisms evolve over time. The findings show that firms initially rely on inbound OI to expand technology search and support vendor selection, before shifting toward coupled OI as integration challenges intensify. In parallel, governance evolves from formal contractual arrangements toward greater reliance on relational coordination as technical interdependencies expose the limits of contracts.
The study provides a process-based explanation of how open innovation and inter-firm governance co-evolve during Industry 4.0 process innovation, highlighting the importance of adaptive coordination in brownfield and emerging-economy contexts.
Talk 2
Licensing continues to be a technology transfer mechanism that is the predominant focus of universities. Although university licensing events are typically seen as one-time events, there has seemingly been an increase in repeat interactions between the university and the same licensee via licensing agreements.
The reasons for the existence and proliferation of these repeat licensing interactions are not fully understood, either in their potential to reduce the licensing transaction costs for the licensee and the university, as well as in other factors such as the continuous inventor´s involvement and their engagement in follow up research.
The purpose of this paper is to understand the nature of these repeat licensing interactions as longer-term relationships between two types of stakeholders: the technology transfer office (TTO) and the licensees. Drawing on micro-level data from a Japanese university, the study develops a taxonomy of repeat licensing interactions.
The findings show a significant rate of repeat licensing beyond initial agreements, including a high proportion aimed at novel technologies. Large firms pursue these relationships primarily for technological diversification rather than ongoing ties to individual inventors. For universities, repeat licensing generates additional value through higher income when technologies are novel. The study offers new insights into long-term university–industry relationships and adds a new layer to technology transfer metrics.
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