Building Universities into Strategic Innovation System Actors: Exploring Transitions and Organisation-Level Support at the University of Cambridge, 1996-2015

This paper seeks to examine how a globally leading research intensive university, the University of Cambridge, has transitioned from a ‘knowledge factory’ driven by scholarly publication to a ‘strategic partner’ for firms in the innovation system, systematically developing and nurturing more relational modes of interaction in addition to supporting the more transactional, arms-length commercialisation of research outputs. It focuses particularly on the changing nature and configuring of organisation-level support for university-industry linkages of different types. Using theories of organisational change, we track the institutionalisation of this type of activity at the University over the period 1996-2015 through a period of unfreezing into one of experimentation and subsequent consolidation, and finally institutionalisation in recent years. However, this process appears to take place at different speeds for commercialisation related activity and the more research-driven relational industrial partnering activity. The University has now developed a system of leadership, policies and incentives, and operational support that extends well beyond commercialisation. We observe important processes of organisational learning at play as it creates and adapts organisational functions and forms. We also suggest that the University is having to build ambidexterity not just to enable research and engagement activity to thrive, but also to enable different forms of engagement to succeed