Maio 2021 vol. 8 num. 2 - V Encontro Nacional de Economia Industrial e Inovação

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The role of academic relations of former graduate students in university-firm collaboration: evidence from Brazil

The role of academic relations of former graduate students in university-firm collaboration: evidence from Brazil

Colombo, Daniel Gama e ; Garcia, Renato de Castro ;

Artigo completo:

Este artigo analisa a contribuição dos laços pessoais de ex-estudantes de mestrado e doutorado para a colaboração universidade-empresa. Com base no arcabouço de proximidade desenvolvido por Boschma (2005) e nas premissas do conceito de proximidade social (confiança, compromisso, linguagem comum e cultura comum), propõe-se que as relações acadêmicas que esses ex-alunos desenvolveram durante a pós-graduação podem reduzir a distância social entre universidades e empresas, favorecendo a pesquisa colaborativa. À luz desse argumento, são apresentadas duas hipóteses para explicar como a contratação de um ex-aluno de pós-graduação está associada à decisão de colaborar de uma organização privada. Essas hipóteses são testadas a partir de uma nova estratégia empírica, utilizando uma nova e abrangente base de dados sobre as parcerias entre universidades e empresas no Brasil, e modelando a decisão da empresa em duas etapas, quais sejam, a escolha do parceiro e a decisão de colaborar. Os resultados indicam que, se um grupo de pesquisa pertencer a uma universidade na qual um ou mais empregados de uma organização privada tenham frequentado a pós-graduação, há maior verossimilhança de que essa organização escolha esse grupo de pesquisa como parceiro (razão de chances cerca de 2,5 vezes maior) e decida colaborar (razão de chances mais de 4 vezes maior). Além disso, a magnitude encontrada dessa associação varia de acordo com a ‘grande área de conhecimento’ em questão, indicando que a área de conhecimento pode constituir um moderador da proximidade social. Esses resultados são as principais contribuições do artigo para a compreensão da colaboração universidade-empresa, e sugerem novas abordagens para políticas públicas para apoiar essas parcerias, que utilizem as relações acadêmicas como alavancas para novos projetos colaborativos.

Artigo completo:

This paper investigates the contribution of the personal ties of former Master and Ph.D. students to university-firm collaboration. Using the proximity framework developed by Boschma (2005) and the underlying assumptions of social proximity (trust, commitment, common language and common culture), we argue that the academic relations these former students developed during graduate education can reduce the social distance between universities and firms, thus favoring collaborative research. Based on this argument, we present two hypotheses to explain how hiring a former graduate student is associated with the collaboration decisions of private organizations. These hypotheses are tested with a new empirical strategy, using a novel and comprehensive dataset on university-industry linkages in Brazil, and modelling the private organization’s decision in two steps, i.e., the choice of a partner and the decision to collaborate. We find that, if a research group is hosted by a university in which one or more employees of a private organization attended graduate education, the employer organization is more likely to choose such group to partner (relative odds around 2.5 times higher) and to engage in collaboration (odds ratio more than 4 times higher). We also find that the magnitude of this association varies substantially per broad field of education, supporting the proposition that scientific disciplines work as ‘moderators’ of the social dimension of proximity. These results are the main contributions of the paper to the understanding of university-firm collaboration, and they suggest new approaches for policy support to these partnerships, using academic relations as a lever to new collaborative projects.

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Palavras-chave: colaboração universidade-empresa; logit condicional; pós-graduação; proximidade social.,

Palavras-chave: conditional logit; graduate education; social proximity; university-firm collaborations,

DOI: 10.5151/v-enei-610

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Como citar:

Colombo, Daniel Gama e; Garcia, Renato de Castro; "The role of academic relations of former graduate students in university-firm collaboration: evidence from Brazil", p. 1-20 . In: Anais do V Encontro Nacional de Economia Industrial e Inovação (ENEI): “Inovação, Sustentabilidade e Pandemia”. São Paulo: Blucher, 2021.
ISSN 2357-7592, DOI 10.5151/v-enei-610

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