Organising firm engagement in collaborative university-industry PhD projects

Collaborative university-industry PhD projects are increasingly common in Europe. Such projects entail a combination of educating researchers, producing practice-driven research, and creating value for collaborating firms. Prior research has highlighted the importance of firm engagement, and involvement in coordinating such collaborations. There is, however, limited knowledge on how firms should engage and coordinate, how it changes over time, and how it enables knowledge outcomes for the firms involved. To address this gap, we conduct a multiple case study. Based on our findings, we show how firms involved in CUI PhD projects can over time organise their engagement and coordination of managers and other employees and commit resources to absorb and exploit new knowledge. This study therefore holds important implications for firms to ensure their own knowledge outcomes in CUI PhD projects through their engagement and coordination.