The Effects of University-Industry Collaboration in R&D on the Growth of Innovative Companies

Technological changes and innovations based on the Research and Development (R&D) are vital role to increase the competition level and economic growth for both firms and countries. For this reason, university-industry collaboration in R&D has important role for the growth of innovative companies. In this context, main of this study is the effects of university-industry collaboration in R&D on the growth of innovative companies. According to the empirical results, the mean of growth innovative companies increases as the level University industry collaboration in RD increases. As a result, it is critical to strengthen University industry collaboration in RD in order to increase the sustainable competition level and economic growth for both firms and countries.

ring scientific knowledge from university to the economy in order to support sustainable economic development and to increase the competitiveness of the firms and the nations. There are huge literature studying on the university-industry collaboration. They focus on the importance of collaboration, the models and types of collaborations, the barriers in university-industry collaborations by focusing country and regional experiences and positive and negative effects on the academic researches. Lee (1996) stated that "university-industry collaboration has different dimensions, such as positive effects on the regional economic development and facilitate commercialization of academic research but negative effects on the to interfere with academic freedom -the freedom to pursue long-term, disinterested, fundamental research".

INTRODUCTION
Technological changes and innovations based on the Research and Development (R&D) are vital role to increase the competition level and economic growth for both firms and countries. For this reason, university-industry collaboration in R&D has important role for the growth of innovative companies. In this context, main of this study is the effects of university-industry collaboration in R&D on the growth of innovative companies. ments as a means of enhancing national competitiveness and wealth creation". Meyer-Krahmer and Schmoch (1998) stated that "the co-operation between industrial firms and universities has increased considerably, but the interaction pattern in different technological fields is not uniform. In science-based fields, university departments have a distinct focus on basic research and the major interest of industry is the observation of science. In less science-based fields, the solution of technical problems is a major concern of industry. In all fields, the exchange of knowledge in techno-scientific communities is a crucial element of interaction. In Germany, strong intra-disciplinary ties between universities and industry in mechanical engineering obviously imply an insufficient openness to, and integration of, new technologies. The particular combination of a long-standing culture of co-operation and the economic success in the mechanical industry can be interpreted in terms of a specific path-dependant evolution of a stable sector of the national system of innovation, but with the tendency to lock-in effects". Siegel et al (2003) claimed that "although there has been a rapid rise in commercial knowledge transfers from universities to practitioners or university-industry technology transfer, through licensing agreements, research joint ventures, and start-ups, there are numerous barriers to effective university-industry technology transfer were identified, including culture clashes, bureaucratic inflexibility, poorly designed reward systems, and ineffective management of university technology transfer offices". Dooley and Kirk (2007) stated that university-industry partnerships build on government-university funding, that university-industry relationships foster new university capabilities, and moreover, that academic publication is not displaced by the requirements of industry partners. Thune (2007) stated that "collaborative relationships are formed in several distinct ways depending on the availability of pre-existing resources and incentives, and that successful collaborations grow out of prior established ties". Ponds et al (2009) claimed that "the impact of academic research on regional innovation is not only mediated by geographical proximity but also by networks stemming from university-industry collaboration". Abramo et al (2009) stated that "Public-private research collaboration has also effects on the scientific production of individual university researchers. The analyses demonstrate that university researchers who collaborate with those in the private sector show research performance that is superior to that of colleagues who are not involved in such collaboration. But the impact factor of journals publishing academic articles co-authored by industry is generally lower than that concerning co-authorships with other entities". Bruneel et al (2010) claimed that "there are some barriers in university-industry collaborations and Bruneel et al (2010)

stated that prior experience of collaborative research lowers orientation-related barriers and that greater levels of trust reduce both types of barriers studied. It also indicates that breadth of interaction diminishes the orientation-related, but increases transaction-related barriers".
Lee (2000) stated that "Participants in university-industry collaborations appear to realize significant benefits, some expected and others unexpected. The most significant benefit realized by firms is an increased access to new university research and discoveries, and the most significant benefits by faculty members is complementing their own academic research by securing funds for graduate students and lab equipment, and by seeking insights into their own research". Laursen et al (2011) claimed that "Firms' decisions to collaborate with universities for innovation are influenced by both geographical proximity to universities and the quality of these universities. Being located close to a lower-tier university reduces the propensity for firms to collaborate locally, while co-location with top-tier universities promotes collaboration. Firms appear to give preference to the research quality of the university partner over geographical closeness. This is particularly true for high-research and development intensive firms. " Gertner et al (2011) stated that "The analysis provides evidence to support the value of conceptualising the process of knowledge transfer between universities and industry as one of learning taking place within communities in which the development of mutual engagement, joint enterprise and shared repertoires play important roles facilitating successful collaborations. the analysis highlights the significance of the boundary spanning roles of the knowledge transfer partnerships partners in facilitating the knowledge transfer process through engagement in both the university and industry communities". Freitas et al (2013) stated that "the contexts and role of university-industry collaboration in mature and emergent industries are diverse. Knowledge networks are underdeveloped in emerging industries, and public support for research projects is dispersed. This means that university research and development projects with firms in emergent industries are less likely than projects with firms in mature industries to be the result of academic initiatives and public calls for research projects, or to be wholly financed by major public research sponsors. In emergent industries, the role of students and firm employees is crucial for mediating between public research organizations and companies". Steinmo and Rasmussen (2018) stated that "Firms find it challenging to develop and sustain successful university-industry collaboration. University-industry collaboration can be facilitated through cognitive and relational social capital. Firms use different paths to develop social capital depending on their university-industry collaboration experience. This provides a more precise understanding of how social capital dimensions interplay over time".
Abdulai et al (2019) stated that "while university-industry collaboration is positively related to innovation performance in firms, informal mechanisms of university knowledge transfer do not and negatively moderate the positive association between university-industry collaboration and innovation performance in firms. It is also found that to facilitate innovation outcomes, formal, legal binding contracts are required. "

DATA AND METHOD
The data is obtained from the Global Competitiveness Index Report for the year 2018 and 140 countries. The variables are University-industry collaboration in R&D and Growth of innovative companies (for the both variable the scale is 1-7 scale, 7 is the best).
The method is ANOVA test. The countries are classified into three groups by University-industry collaboration in R&D, low, medium and high. It is analysed that whether Growth of innovative companies changes on the average or not, as University-industry collaboration in R&D changes on the average Table.1 shows descriptive statistics for Growth of innovative companies. According to the results, the mean of the Growth of innovative companies for the countries with low University-industry collaboration in R&D is 3,43 (the scale is 1-7, 7 is the best), with University-industry collaboration in R&D is 3,86 and with high University-industry collaboration in R&D is 4,78.

CONCLUSION
Nowadays, the structure of the competition among the firms and countries mainly depends on the disruptive technological innovations. Technological changes and innovations based on the Research and Development (R&D) are vital role to increase the competition level and economic growth for both firms and countries. For this reason, university-industry collaboration in R&D has important role for the growth of innovative companies. In this context, main of this study is the effects of university-industry collaboration in R&D on the growth of innovative companies. According to the empirical results, the mean of growth innovative companies increases as the level University industry collaboration in RD increases. As a result, it is critical to strengthen University industry collaboration in RD in order to increase the sustainable competition level and economic growth for both firms and countries. For this reason, universities, business sector and public sector must develop efficient strategies for the collaboration in R&D and technological innovations.