The benefits of strong collaboration between industry and academia is something that I’ve long espoused on this blog, and a recent study from the University of Campinas Economics Institute (IE-UNICAMP) highlights the benefits seen in Brazilian society when the two sectors work effectively together.

The research, which was published in Science and Public Policy, quizzed over 1,000 researchers and other staff from research facilities who had previously reported to Brazil’s National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) that they collaborate with the private sector between 2002 and 2008.

“We divided the researchers into those who interacted regularly and those who interacted only once with business organizations. We found that commercial factors were important for both groups. However, those who interacted regularly saw intellectual benefits such as new ideas for projects or scientific publications as most important,” the researchers explain.

Mutual benefits

Many of the case studies from the research have gone into a new book (that’s free to download if you understand Portuguese) but an interesting trend to emerge is that the sectors that appear to interact with universities aren’t always those you would regard as at the forefront of science and innovation.  Sectors such as aerospace and pharma were particularly enthusiastic, but perhaps the best example was in the mining and steel sectors. Two traditional, export-orientated industries who are obliged by law to work with universities.

Most of the firms are engaging in collaboration to augment the work done by their internal R&D department.

“When a firm produces knowledge internally, it tends to want to reach out to academia. Firms that merely survive don’t produce knowledge. This was a lesson we learned. If the firm doesn’t want to do it, it doesn’t happen. If the basic demand isn’t there, there won’t be any interaction,” the authors explain.  “There are areas in which partnerships occur because without interacting with industry, firms or productive agricultural establishments the researcher can’t do the research or know whether the product developed can be mass-produced or even if it’s economically viable.”

The benefits of collaboration between academia and industry are certainly not new, and numerous case studies exist to illustrate those benefits, but it is nonetheless a nice reminder, not least that the benefits extend to even the most unlikely of sectors.