Effect of University-industry linkages on commercialization of innovations of higher education: Evidence from Enugu State, south-east Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the effect of linkages between university and industries on commercialization of innovations of higher education in Nigeria with evidence from Enugu State, South-East Nigeria. Some of the objectives of this study were to: examine the effect of government policies on the number of Intellectual Rights sold or bought; find out the effect of funding mechanisms on the number of research contracts awarded to academic staff. The methodology adopted by this study was descriptive survey research. Questionnaire that comprised 19 close-ended items that were set on the 5-point Likert-type scale was used to collect primary data from the five sample units. Results of the reliability test carried out on the said research instrument showed that it had a Cronbach‘s Alpha Index of 0.84. The sample units included the University of Nigeria Nsukka, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu, National Open University of Nigeria, Enugu State Government and the Ama Plant of Nigerian Breweries Plc. The population for the study was 4,281 out of which a sample of 353 respondents was drawn using Cochran‘s finite population correction technique. Target respondents for the survey were selected using purposive sampling technique, which used only the staff of the units sampled who possessed good knowledge of issues involved in university - industry linkages. Descriptive statistics comprising frequency counts, tables, and percentages was used to analyze the data that resulted from coding of the responses from respondents, while Multiple Regression Analysis was used to test the four hypotheses of the study. The study found that government policies had significant effect on the number of Intellectual Property Rights sold or bought; that human resource development had significant effect on the number of scientific conferences or training sponsored by the government or firms. The study recommended that: government should strive to provide the enabling environment that paves the way for effective university-industry partnerships; sustainable funding mechanism that will target multiple levels including government, private sector and productive sector to be put in place; and, stakeholders in the university-industry linkages should embark on regular capacity-building on relevant skills.

Key Words: Linkages, Partnerships, Commercialization, Invention, University, Industry