Collaboration between research institutions and innovative firms. The experience of Polish SMEs and their expectations

Abstract

Collaboration between research institutions and innovative firms was covered by largescale studies conducted in 2004-2006 by the Chair of Innovation Management (Katedra Zarządzania Innowacjami) and the collaborating staff from other units within the Business Administration College at the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH). The study targeted locally and internationally successful innovative SMEs. It consisted of in-depth interviews conducted in accordance with a special guideline, combined with a questionnaire-based survey. The results show that innovative companies are much more likely to collaborate with research institutions and do so to a much greater extent than other enterprises. However, despite innovativeness of those companies, only a small fraction of their collaboration with industry concerns new products and services. In most cases collaboration focuses on training, research and measurement, preparation of written opinions etc. Some of the studied innovative companies can be taken as examples of successful collaboration with research organisations and the article mentions three most interesting examples. The authors end with a summary presenting their conclusions on collaboration between research organisations and innovative firms.