Strengthening academic and industry collaboration for improved outcomes and impact : construction management sector centre model

In Australia construction academics and construction practitioners engage in collaborative research at varying levels of intensity and through various formal modes of delivery. In an attempt to strengthen the relationship, this paper discusses the common interests, challenges and solutions. Academics and practitioners alike share a necessary tension that appears to motivate action. It is anticipated that collaboration improves with a matching of goals and motivations, and an understanding of expectations and limitations of the relationship. Perspectives on timeframe and rigour can differ which may introduce friction remains unresolved. The literature review highlighted several approaches for collaborative practice models to support academic-industry linkages and identified that there was a lack of research on the construction sector approaches. However various models are evident in other disciplines and sectors, which we can borrow, hybridise and adapt. This paper develops a conceptual model of university-industry collaboration which responds to the unique characteristics of the construction sector combining collaboration typologies and temporal process