Aalborg Universitet Disseminating scientific knowledge to small and medium-sized enterprises Løkkegaard, Sarai DOI (link to publication from Publisher): 10.5278/vbn.phd.hum.00086 Publication date: 2018 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication from Aalborg University Citation for published version (APA): Løkkegaard, S. (2018). Disseminating scientific knowledge to small and medium-sized enterprises. Aalborg Universitetsforlag. Aalborg Universitet. Det Humanistiske Fakultet. Ph.D.-Serien https://doi.org/10.5278/vbn.phd.hum.00086 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. ? 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Downloaded from vbn.aau.dk on: December 27, 2020 DISSEMINATING SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE TO SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES SMALL SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE TO DISSEMINATING DISSEMINATING SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE TO SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES BY SARAI LØKKEGAARD DISSERTATION SUBMITTED 2018 SARAI LØKKEGAARD DISSEMINATING SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE TO SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES by Sarai Løkkegaard Dissertation submitted 2018 Dissertation submitted: February 2018 PhD supervisor: Professor Marianne Lykke Aalborg University Assistant PhD supervisor: Professor Nicolai Jørgensgaard Graakjær Aalborg University PhD committee: Professor Birger Larsen (chairman) Aalborg University Professor Carolin Plewa The University of Adelaide Associate Professor Torben Munk University of Southern Denmark PhD Series: Faculty of Humanities, Aalborg University ISSN (online): 2246-123X ISBN (online): 978-87-7210-151-4 Published by: Aalborg University Press Langagervej 2 DK – 9220 Aalborg Ø Phone: +45 99407140 [email protected] forlag.aau.dk © Copyright: Sarai Løkkegaard Printed in Denmark by Rosendahls, 2018 In memory of my fantastic grandfather who did not get to see me finish this work but who was always inspiring and supporting me ENGLISH SUMMARY In this thesis, I examine, develop and evaluate the dissemination of scientific knowledge between university and industry, specifically small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs). The motivation for the research originates in the Danish science-society debate, which has increased over recent decades. While the traditional missions of universities are research and teaching, there has been a growing attention on the ‘third mission’, which covers universities’ re- sponsibility to stimulate a greater awareness and exploitation of scientific knowledge outside academia. However, while getting scientific knowledge from universities to the outside world is commonly considered profitable, find- ing successful ways of how to do it remains a challenge. The thesis provides new perspectives on this matter. Through a number of mainly explorative studies, the thesis examines, devel- ops and evaluates how scientific knowledge can be disseminated to SMEs. The thesis explores the dissemination of existing scientific knowledge in the form of Pure data from VBN (Knowledge Base of Northern Jutland), which is the Research Information Management System of Aalborg University. Using ex- isting scientific knowledge from VBN as a case requires scientific knowledge to be explicit, encoded and demonstrative. For this reason, the thesis focusses on the dissemination of scientific knowledge through generic pathways (e.g. published research, patents, research facilities, employed new graduates). Understanding SMEs’ preferences for the dissemination process is a central part of the thesis’ contribution. The conditions of SMEs differ significantly from those of larger enterprises, for example because they have fewer employ- ees and limited financial resources for in-house research and development. Because of this, SMEs can be said to have a greater need to access external knowledge. Working with a variety of SMEs to create mainly qualitative data, the thesis seeks to understand SMEs’ conditions and preferences related to (scientific) knowledge. The thesis further focusses on understanding what is required in order for SMEs to find scientific knowledge accessible, understand- able, relevant and usable. These understandings form the basis for developing and evaluating an actual generic pathway that makes possible a concrete ex- ploration of how existing scientific knowledge can be disseminated to SMEs. By that, the thesis not only examines how scientific knowledge is disseminated at present; it also explores how it can be done in the future. The contributions of the thesis include: - A Literature Study that analyses and categorises the known barriers and solutions to dissemination of scientific knowledge to enterprises in general and SMEs in particular. - An analysis of SMEs’ situation related to (scientific) knowledge, which provides new and nuanced insights about the perspectives of SMEs and their preferences regarding external knowledge acquisition. - The creation of communicative principles for the optimised dissemi- nation of scientific knowledge to SMEs. - An analysis of the characteristics and organisation of the specific type of scientific knowledge that exists in VBN. - A development process that exemplifies and concretises how scientific knowledge can actually be disseminated to SMEs through generic pathways. In total, the research conducted in this thesis strengthens the common know- ledge on the field and contributes with several new and nuanced insights on the subject. By focussing particularly on (1) SMEs, (2) existing (explicit and en- coded) scientific knowledge and (3) generic pathways, the thesis takes a unique standpoint and separates itself from existing research on ‘the dissemination of scientific knowledge’. DANSK RESUME I denne ph.d.-afhandling undersøger, udvikler og evaluerer jeg formidlingen af forskningsbaseret viden mellem universitet og erhvervsliv, særligt små- og mellemstore virksomheder (SMV’er). Afhandlingens fokus relaterer sig til den danske forskningsformidlingsdebat, som er taget til i de seneste årtier. Traditi- onelt set består universiteternes primære opgaver i at bedrive forskning og un- dervisning, men der kommer i stigende grad fokus på ’det tredje ben’, som dækker over, at universiteterne nu har et ansvar for at levere viden, der kan anvendes og skabe værdi i det omgivende samfund, og at de er forpligtede til at dele denne viden med alle interessenter. Formidling af forskningsbaseret viden anskues som særdeles udbytterigt for samfundet, men der er fortsat man- gel på metoder og konkrete anvisninger til, hvordan denne formidling faktisk kan (og bør) finde sted. Denne ph.d.-afhandling bidrager med nye perspektiver på og inden for dette felt. Gennem en række primært eksplorative studier udforsker afhandlingen, hvor- dan forskningsbaseret viden kan formidles til SMV’er. Afhandlingen fokuserer på formidling af eksisterende forskningsbaseret viden, hvormed der henvises til den type af viden (Pure data), der forefindes i VBN (Vidensbase Nordjylland), som er Aalborg Universitets online-forskningsportal. Denne type af viden kan karakteriseres som eksplicit og kodet, hvilket sætter nogle rammer for, hvilken type formidling denne afhandling adresserer (undersøger, udvikler og evalue- rer). Det er således formidling af forskningsbaseret viden gennem generiske ka- naler (for eksempel publiceret forskning, patenter, forskningsinstitutioner eller ansættelse af nyuddannede), der fokuseres på i afhandlingen. En central del af afhandlingens bidrag er, at den skaber forståelse for SMV’ernes situation og præferencer i forbindelse med (forskningsbaseret) vi- den. SMV’ernes vilkår er markant anderledes end større virksomheder. De har for eksempel færre ansatte og begrænsede finansielle ressourcer til intern forskning og udvikling. Det kan derfor hævdes, at SMV’er har et større behov for at tilegne sig viden eksternt. Ved inddragelse af en række forskelligartede SMV’er og generering af primært kvalitative data søger afhandlingen at af- dække SMV’ers vilkår og præferencer i relation til (forskningsbaseret) viden. Den fokuserer desuden på at forstå, hvad der kræves, for at SMV’er finder forskningsbaseret viden tilgængeligt, forståeligt, relevant og brugbart. Disse forståelser danner udgangspunktet for at udvikle og evaluere et nyt webinterface (en ge- nerisk kanal), hvilket muliggør en konkret udforskning af, hvordan forsknings- baseret viden kan formidles til SMV’er. Dermed undersøger afhandlingen ikke blot, hvordan forskningsbaseret viden formidles for nuværende. Den udforsker også, hvordan det kan gøres frem- over. Afhandlingens bidrag består af: - Et litteraturstudie, som analyserer og kategoriserer de velkendte bar- rierer og løsninger relateret til formidling af forskningsbaseret viden, både målrettet virksomheder generelt og SMV’er specifikt. - En analyse af SMV’ers situation relateret til (forskningsbaseret) viden. Dette tilvejebringer nye og