The initiative of joint innovation involving industry, university, and research signifies diverse legislative directives released by governmental bodies to foster the creation and evolution of technical breakthrough efforts, incentivizing, backing, an...
The initiative of joint innovation involving industry, university, and research signifies diverse legislative directives released by governmental bodies to foster the creation and evolution of technical breakthrough efforts, incentivizing, backing, and overseeing profound integration and cooperative creative actions among corporations, colleges, and investigative organizations. This study focuses on the collaborative innovation policy of Chinese universities, aiming to reveal the shortcomings in its implementation process and theoretically explain the key factors and characteristics that influence policy execution. This study focuses on China’s higher education industry-university-research collaborative innovation policy, aiming to reveal the shortcomings in its implementation process and theoretically explain the key factors and characteristics that affect policy execution. Based on the four-dimensional policy analysis model proposed by Cooper et al. (2004), the study analyzes the policy from a comprehensive and diversified perspective, thereby identifying the core factors and inherent traits influencing the policy implementation process. The research questions of this study are as follows: First, what major changes have occurred in the value objectives of China’s higher education industry-university-research collaborative innovation policy at different stages? Second, under what political, historical, and institutional contexts was China’s higher education industry-university-research collaborative innovation policy formed? Third, how do the main participants of China’s higher education industry-university-research collaborative innovation policy interact and cooperate? Fourth, what are the key technical means driving collaborative innovation among industry, university, and research in China, and what significant achievements have these policies accomplished? In this regard, the study uses the four-dimensional policy analysis model presented by Cooper et al. (2004) as an analytical framework to analyze innovative policies for collaboration between industry and research from four dimensions: normative, structural, constitutive and technological. The results of this analysis are as follows: First, the paper analyzes the major changes in the value objectives of collaborative innovation policies in different stages from the normative level. From an ideological perspective, this study examines the core beliefs and values reflected in these collaborative innovation policies, focusing on three aspects: the evolution trajectory of values, ideology, and core beliefs in the collaborative innovation policies at each development stage; the differences in core values among different actors in collaborative innovation; and the issues of educational equity arising during the implementation of policies for collaborative innovation among industry, university, and research. Second, the structural dimension focuses on revealing the institutional framework, organizational structure, and power relations that make policy formation possible, that is, explaining under what institutional conditions policies are formed. Unlike the normative dimension, which concerns why policies are made, the structural dimension focuses on the institutional environment and organizational carriers through which policies are implemented. To systematically understand the institutional foundation on which China’s university-industry-research collaborative innovation policies are generated and developed, this section analyzes each stage of policy evolution from three aspects: institutional framework (the basic arrangement of laws and policy systems), organizational structure (the forms of carriers for university-industry-research collaboration), and power relations (the allocation of rights and responsibilities among government, universities, and enterprises). Meanwhile, by combining data such as national university technology transactions, patent sales, and science and technology funding, national research institutions technology transactions, and comparisons of national R&D expenditures with enterprises, the stage-specific characteristics of university-industry-research cooperation policies during different periods are examined. This not only helps clarify the current development status of the policy system, but also provides an important reference for enhancing policy synergy in the future, which is precisely the core value of conducting an analysis of university-industry-research collaborative innovation policies from a structural perspective. Third, based on the four-dimensional policy analysis model proposed by Cooper et al. (2004), this systematically analyzes how different stakeholders interact and cooperate in the joint creative endeavor policies of industry-university-research integration in universities. Taking H University in Yantai, Shandong as a case study, this research uses interviews to explore core issues in the implementation of university-industry-research collaborative innovation policies, such as cooperation mechanisms, interest interactions, and coordination challenges. The aim is to gain an in-depth understanding of role positioning and interrelationships of various stakeholders within the constitutive dimension of the policy. Findings from this section indicate that although universities receive substantial resources and funding support from the government and enterprises, significantly advancing the development of top-tier innovative skills, enterprises also gain high-tech achievements through collaboration, achieving technological upgrades and enhanced competitiveness. However, enterprise participation in university-industry-research collaboration is primarily market-driven, focusing on the rapid transformation and practical application of research results, with the core objective of maximizing profit and efficiency. In contrast, the fundamental functions of universities and research institutions lie in basic research and academic innovation, which often makes it difficult to fully align with enterprises' market-oriented and immediate application needs. Fourthly, regarding the technical perspective, this research concentrates on the technical aspects of cooperative innovation strategies for Chinese institutions, enterprises, and academic labs, seeking to elucidate their primary technical assistance actions and practical outcomes. First, based on the revision of the “Law on the Progress of Science and Technology” in 2007 as a key point, it analyzes the important national-level policies, and how they, through the establishment of critical technical measures, ultimately achieved breakthrough results in collaborative innovation among universities, industries, and research institutes. Second, the study targets eight major national-level collaborative innovation policy documents issued between 2006 and 2024. Using Nvivo15 software and the policy tools perspective, the relevant provisions or statements in the policy texts are coded and categorized. With the aid of content analysis and quantitative analysis, the various policy tools are statistically analyzed. Combined with the policy cycle of collaborative innovation among universities, industries, and research institutes, a two-dimensional analysis framework is constructed. By statistically analyzing the frequency of key policy document tool types, it is possible to identify issues in the Chinese government's promotion of collaborative innovation policy tools in certain dimensions, such as deficiencies, excesses, or gaps. Finally, based on the analysis results from the normative dimension, structural dimension, compositional dimension, and technical dimension, this research offers specific recommendations for the advancement of University-Industry-Research collaborative innovation policies, helping to break cooperative barriers and stimulate innovation vitality.