By focusing on commercialisation we fail to recognise the more complex ways universities engage with business

Collaborations between universities and firms are often understood in terms of technology transfer and the creation of innovative products. Utku Ali Rıza Alpaydın and Rune Dahl Fitjar, draw on findings from a survey of university firm interactions in Norway, to suggest that such engagements in fact represent a minority and that good policy in this area should take into account a much broader range of interactions and relationships between firms and universities, especially those in their local regions, than is normally considered.