۱٫ Introduction

۲٫ The theoretical framework of the proposal

۳٫ Strategic framework for successful innovation

۴٫ The proposed business model for the collaboration university – industry

۵٫ Conclusions and future research

Acknowledgements

References

The present paper proposes a preliminary business model for collaboration between universities and industrial partners (through projects). Imperatives and dimensions of this model are the analysis result of data obtained by observation applied to public information and market research. The study was conducted nationwide. This model is the companies’ response to market demand. This model proposes a general framework for the creation of successful collaboration between universities and businesses. The industrial partners do not necessarily have all the competencies to perform each operation in-house for the development of competitive products. Therefore, collaboration with universities helps them in researching the problems that cannot be solved individually. In this sense, universities could be considered as partners for industries. The analysis undertaken shows that how the two entities, the university and industry collaborate, very much fits with the framework for collaboration shown. Although the open innovation model does not apply significantly and primarily in these entities, there is a high potential for its implementation and the creation of added value.

Introduction

In the current competitive environment, companies must achieve a high level of performance, leading to the production of innovative products, rewarding customer needs and rapidly responding to market demands. In this direction of innovation, companies do not have all the needed skills to develop such products inside / in-house. Therefore, the best way of meeting these requirements is the collaboration between two or more partners. Depending on the type of activity, many other benefits of collaboration can be entered for each partner, such as: reducing costs, using a multidisciplinary approach, collaborators reputation, expertise in a particular field et al. (Draghici et al., 2015). Therefore collaboration between universities and the different actors of the economic environment leads to a series of benefits that have a favorable impact on business competitiveness. The university-industry collaboration (UIC) has gained widespread interest because of the high degree of innovation and economic growth ((Mitive, 2009; Guan and Zaho, 2013; Iqbal et al, 2015a, 2015b). This paper proposes a business model for collaboration between universities and companies in open innovation in order to underline the way in which significant results are achieved. It presents an architecture for implementing open innovation in companies.