Importance of different channels of knowledge transfer between universities and industry in Iranian Industries

Knowledge and technology can be transferred between universities and industry through different channels. The main objective of this paper was to investigate the relationship between universities and industry with an emphasis on the importance of sectoral characteristics. The analyses in this paper are based on original data collected by two related questionnaires, one aimed at university researchers and one at industry researchers, from July 2012 to January 2013, implementing logistic binary regression model. The results show a significant difference in the importance of different channels of knowledge transfer. In general, the results indicate that the scientific publications, patents, intellectual property and spin-offs are more important forms of knowledge transfer between university and industry in the chemical and petrochemical sector. Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology sectors use all channels with the exception of scientific publications to transfer knowledge. Machinery and basic metal products sector and the sectors related to mechanical engineering place great importance on intellectual property, patents and spin-offs. Electrical and telecommunications equipment sectors use only participation in conferences to transfer knowledge from university and the use of knowledge transfer channels by the food industry is inexplicable.