Research on the interaction between industry and public sector research (PSR) has tended to focus on the types or mechanisms of linkage activity at this interface. Such work has highlighted the diversity which exists in both the nature and the extent of industry-PSR linkage, but it has done little to analyse this diversity in any systematic way. This paper outlines a research design which seeks to avoid this failing. It focuses on the contribution of PSR to industrial innovation by analysing in detail the scientific and technological inputs (STI) associated with industry-PSR linkage, as well as the actual linkage activity. The paper outlines both the conceptual basis of this research design, and the method adopted for implementing it in a recent study of public-private sector research linkage in three advanced technologies. It concludes by arguing for the potential value of the approach to both public policy and an enhanced understanding of the contribution of PSR to industrial innovation.
Wendy Faulkner (Wed,) studied this question.