We warmly invite scholars at all levels (senior scientists, postdocs, graduate students) being interested in University Business Linkages (UBL) as well as managers and staff of innovation centers, technology and knowledge transfer offices, entrepreneurship and enterprise development centers, and career services to take part in our 5th International iN4iN Conference on 7th of December 2021.

There is still less understanding of how to successfully implement University Business Linkages in universities, making stakeholders feel skeptical of their impacts on societies. UBLs vary among countries and economic blocs because of dissimilar: higher education systems, phases of economic development, national innovation systems, and industry factors.

The demand for university knowledge and services may be lower in a weaker region where there exist a higher proportion of firms engaging in traditional or non-knowledge-based activities, and vice versa. In addition, the regulations concerning intellectual property ownership for university-produced knowledge differ between countries. Also, UBLs vary widely across different scientific areas in terms of their objectives, outputs, and organizational set ups. Therefore, applying a one-size-fits-all approach is problematic.

Given the complexity of implementing UBLs, we would like to discuss the motivations and competencies of academics as well as the relevant UBL mechanisms with academic partners from more than 40 countries in our iN4iN network.

Additionally, we plan to present real UBL activities based on our AGEA Business Idea competition as well as the ACCESS University of Idea Competition in 2021. Therefore, we would also like to invite you to celebrate the winners of both competitions!