New perspectives on university-industry interactions: An analysis of the knowledge flow within two sectors and two countries

University–industry relations (UIR) are usually analysed by the knowledge transfer channels, but existing studies have failed to address what knowledge content is being transferred – impacting the technology output aimed by the partnership. We aim to identify the Knowledge Flow in UIR, defined by the actor responsible for initiating a partnership – direction of the flow – and the type of technology output being transferred – content of the flow. We compare the knowledge flow in innovation systems of agriculture and aerospace sectors in Brazil and the Netherlands. The cases show that the knowledge flow is influenced more by the maturity of the national and sectoral innovation system than by the technological trajectory of the sector itself. While the Dutch cases demonstrate that both sectors are part of a mature innovation system, the Brazilian cases, although expected to have a similar technological trajectory, demonstrated a more immature innovation system.

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