BRICOLEURS AND BOUNDARY RIDERS - MANAGING BASIC RESEARCH AND INNOVATION KNOWLEDGE NETWORKS

A major focus of national and institutional research policies during t he 1990s has been on improving linkages between research activities an d purpose of advancing economic and other national objectives. The tra nsfer of scientific knowledge, however, within and research institutio ns, other innovative organizations is taking place within rapidly chan ging organizational environments. The emergence of new organizational structures that transcend institutional boundaries, scientific discipl ines and the boundaries between basic and applied research are all con tributing to as well as responding to changes in the ways science inte rsects with industrial innovation. Recent international evidence sugge sts that innovative organizations during the next decade will depend m ore on their ability to maintain quite complex organizational research linkages than on their internal organizational research capabilities. Case studies of the organizational approach adopted by companies and commercial-research agency consortia in China and Australia lead to a discussion of a typology of academic-industry alliances. The 'typology provides insights into different collaborative R&D management strateg ies associated with different forms of science-industry alliance.