Synergising academia and industry: the impact of human capital on innovation commercialisation

Purpose This study examines how two collaboration channels – education and training and research and development (R&D) – within university–business collaboration (UBC) are associated with firms’ innovation, commercialisation, talent access and efficiency outcomes. Design/methodology/approach Using a nationwide survey of 4,188 academics and multilevel logit models (GLMM), we estimate the odds of four firm-level outcomes and report odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals to assess the magnitude and significance of UBC effects. Findings Collaborative R&D initiatives significantly enhance the commercialisation of academic inventions and the efficiency of business operations. Engagements in education- and training-oriented UBC are positively associated with product and process innovation and firms’ access to student talent, underscoring the human–capital dimension of collaboration. The results highlight the complementary roles of R&D and education-based collaboration in fostering innovation and organisational performance, while indicating that some structural and relational barriers continue to constrain UBC effectiveness. Research limitations/implications Outcomes are reported by academics and anchored in documented project outputs; hence, the industry-level effects are assessed from the perspective and perceptions of the academic respondents rather than from direct firm data. We therefore acknowledge the single-source nature of the dataset and discuss potential implications for interpretation and generalisability. Originality/value This paper provides one of the first large-scale analyses of individual-level human capital in UBC within the Turkish context, distinguishing between education and training and R&D channels and linking them to specific firm-level outcomes through a multilevel modelling approach.