How Does University Interaction Contribute to Successful R&D Management? An Examination of the Swedish Setting

The issue—how a firm’s R&D (Research and Development) interaction with universities affects its innovation performance—remains under-researched. This study explores the relationship between firms’ collaboration with universities and their capabilities for innovation, as perceived by R&D managers. Drawing on a series of interviews with R&D managers of 45 randomly selected firms collaborating with two research universities in Sweden, we explicitly recognize mechanisms through which university relationships contribute to successful R&D management.