Barriers to applying open innovation at universities

Abstract

Universities are the main source for developing future creative entrepreneurs and they engage with other sectors in research and knowledge transfers. The role of the university has been enlarged to include not only teaching and research but also regional development under the name of the entrepreneurial university. Traditionally, the so-called "linear model of innovation" ideas flow naturally from university science and technology that can be commercially exploited and turned into economic growth. This paradigm has turned out to be dogmatic because of many reasons. The new paradigm that is called "Open Innovation" can play a vital role in increasing the competitive advantage of the university by using internal and external ideas, while finding internal and external paths to the market. But, there are a lot of barriers that hinder the effective application of the new paradigm. Few articles discuss the barriers from the industry side. There is no research on the university's barriers and related issues. This research tries to provide an overview of the barriers from a university point of view. This paper is based on an interview study. A qualitative research approach was applied to create an in-depth understanding of the challenges. A total of 12 private and public universities in Egypt were studied by using semi-structured, face-to-face interviews. The interviews were conducted with around 40 members of selected universities; for instance, Presidents, Vice Presidents, Deans, Professors and administrators. Through the interviews, barriers can be categorized into three main groups: internal, external and mixed factors