Diferencias en la efectividad de los canales de interacción sobre los beneficios obtenidos por investigadores y empresas en México

It is widely recognized that universities and public research centers, hereinafter referred to public research organizations (PROs) are producers and transmitters of knowledge, and as such can make important contributions both to increase the economic performance of firms and to solve societal problems.The process of knowledge transfer between PROs and industry occurs through multiple channels of interaction, however the effectiveness of different channels on the benefits perceived by both agents differs. Based on micro data of academic researchers and firms in Mexico, this paper explores what channels of interactions are the most effective for triggering different benefits received by researchers and firms involved in such interactions. We built two Heckman´s two-step estimation procedure models, one for researchers and one for firms. The first stage determines the drivers of interaction and then eliminates the selection bias, while the second identify the most important channels to benefit from interaction. Our findings suggest that researchers are knowledge driven rather than economic driven, as they valuate more Intellectual than Economic benefits. Firms perceive Production benefits as more important than Innovation benefits, which suggest that they tend to connect to PRO for short-term problem solving rather than to get insights for long-term innovative strategies. The Bi-directional channel (knowledge flows in both directions) is the most important in providing benefits for both researchers (intellectual benefits) and firms (Innovation and Production benefits). Dual benefits coming from this channel could contribute to building virtual circles for PRO-industry interaction. But other channels are only effective either for researchers (Traditional) or for firms (Services), which raise a policy issue about the need identified the drivers that explain the likelihood of firms and researchers to establish linkages. In the case of researchers, the drivers that explain the probability to connect with firms are: (i) skills (knowledge), academic collaboration and (iii) institutiponal affiliation. In the case of firms, the main are the following: (i) openness strategy (particularly open sources and suppliers) and fiscal incentives for R&D, and (ii) perception about the role of PRO for the creation and transfer of knowledge.