The flipside of the coin? The role of university-industry collaborations on research independence and orientation

Abstract Despite the benefits of university-industry collaborations, concerns remain about their repercussions on the modes and content of scientific research. So far, only a handful of empirical studies exist on these issues. Based on a survey run among professors in German universities, we study how university-industry collaborations affect academic independence. We find that university-industry collaborations are related to higher challenges in keeping academic independence. Disentangling the effects between research collaborations and consultancy activities, we observe that professors engaging in both experiences are associated with lower perceptions of the barrier. Moreover, we test whether perceiving higher perceived barriers to academic independence influence research orientation and we find an increase in applied publications. Overall, university-industry collaborations are associated with higher challenges to academic independence which in turn are associated with a reorientation towards applied research. We conclude by discussing the implications for science policy.