Elite European Universities and the R&D Subsidiaries of Multinational Enterprises

Paper in proceeding, 2008

This chapter analyzes why large multinational firms are willing to invest resources in long-term collaboration with leading universities. This chapter is based on interviews with the multinationals at universities in Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The issue of how and why multinational corporations are willing to invest in longer-term collaboration with universities relates back to the core of the ‘positive’ interpretation of the knowledge society for Europe – namely how to remain attract node for R&D. This chapter thus moves to the perspective of the firm, in their interactions with university-based researchers active in top universities in different fields.