A job fit for Evel Knievel: jumping the canyon of academia-to-industry knowledge transfer

Abstract

The ability to manage and transfer knowledge between parties is emerging as an important significant potential source of competitive advantage, but it is accomplished with significant difficulty. This paper focuses on knowledge management and transfer (KMT) in the context of university-industry relationships, and presents both university and industry perspectives. The learnings have broad application, as this is a common issue and concern for organizations attempting to gamer benefits from investments in these relationships. This subject is of increasing importance as industry recognizes the potential benefits from supply chain management (SCM) and hence the need for new solutions that has motivated many companies to invest in university relationships. Worldwide expenditure on logistics exceeds $700 billion USD. Efficient management of the supply chain is the logical next step to attempt to reduce this expense. Issues of KMT are noted, with emphasis on 'harvesting' knowledge for practical application within firms. Successful, as well as unsuccessful, attempts at KMT are examined. A series of examples and cases are used to illustrate learnings. Finally, a set of key success factors (KSF) for productive KMT is proposed for consideration. The title of the paper likens the challenge of bridging the gap between academia and industry with the famous Snake River Canyon jump by Evel Knievel in 1974. Spanning these two environments is akin to crossing a wide chasm with high risk and pain of failure.