Synergising academia and industry : the impact of human capital on innovation

Temel, Serdal (author), Chipulu, Max (author), Howells, Jeremy (author), Dabić, Marina (author)

Purpose – This study examines how two collaboration channels – education and training and research and development (R&D) – within university–business collaboration (UBC) are associated with firms’ innovation, commercialisation, talent access and efficiency outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – Using a nationwide survey of 4,188 academics and multilevel logit models (GLMM), we estimate the odds of four firm-level outcomes and report odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals to assess the magnitude and significance of UBC effects. Findings – Collaborative R&D initiatives significantly enhance the commercialisation of academic inventions and the efficiency of business operations. Engagements in education- and training-oriented UBC are positively associated with product and process innovation and firms’ access to student talent, underscoring the human– capital dimension of collaboration. The results highlight the complementary roles of R&D and education-based collaboration in fostering innovation and organisational performance, while indicating that some structural and relational barriers continue to constrain UBC effectiveness. Research limitations/implications – Outcomes are reported by academics and anchored in documented project outputs; hence, the industry-level effects are assessed from the perspective and perceptions of the academic respondents rather than from direct firm data. We therefore acknowledge the single-source nature of the dataset and discuss potential implications for interpretation and generalisability. Originality/value – This paper provides one of the first large-scale analyses of individual-level human capital in UBC within the Turkish context, distinguishing between education and training and R&D channels and linking them to specific firm-level outcomes through a multilevel modelling approach.

• Language: English
• Keywords: business schools, enterprises, knowledge transfer, innovations, labour efficiency, Turkey, university–business collaboration, innovation, human capital development
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: EF - School of Economics and Business
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 350-374
• Numbering: Vol. 29, iss. 11
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-184002
• UDC: 658
• ISSN on article: 1460-1060
• DOI: 10.1108/EJIM-08-2025-1025
• COBISS.SI-ID: 278130947
• Publication date in RUL: 23.06.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: European journal of innovation management
• Publisher: Emerald
• ISSN: 1460-1060
• COBISS.SI-ID: 4004636

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: poslovne šole, podjetje, prenos znanja, inovacije, delovna uspešnost, Turčija

Projects

• Funder: Other - Other funder or multiple funders
• Project number: NAF2R\170006
• Name: NAF2R\170006

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P5-0441
• Name: Regeneracija ekonomije in posla