Driving Digital Transformation: Addressing the Barriers to Engagement in University-Industry Collaboration

Collaboration between university and industry can improve knowledge exchange and innovation, which is required for driving digital business transformation in organisations. This paper discusses the results of a case study that was conducted to investigate the personal (‘lived’) experiences of both industry practitioners and academics from the STEM academic unit at the University of Enterprise in Australia, regarding the barriers to building trusting knowledge-related collaborative relationships. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with sixteen academics and industry representatives to elicit their views. We found that university and business leaders must overcome barriers to establish higher numbers of University-Industry Collaboration (UIC) agreements, including limited resources, lack of capabilities and the absence of university support. However, they must also address the challenges facing individual academics and industry professionals, such as conflicting interests and expectations, and limitations to academics’ career progression. The paper discusses how the recently established Enterprise Hub at the University supports collaboration and fostering healthy relationships between academic staff and industry partners. The findings will provide guidance to other universities and businesses to establish such supportive entities at their institutions to drive innovation and digital business transformation initiatives.