Alumni

This dissertation aims at enhancing the understanding of the University Industry Collaboration (UIC) context and identifying effective strategies to stimulate those linkages. We indicate that UIC activities in Rwanda are unidirectional and narrow in scope i.e., mainly taking place through educational-oriented channels. They are therefore less prone to the creation and diffusion of knowledge through relational learning. From the industry perspective, we found that companies are motivated by short-term benefits rather than long term innovation-oriented benefits, mainly due to a business context less auspicious to investing in long-term growth-related projects. Findings reveal also that the industry in Rwanda has a negative perception on the current UIC activities and on the capacity of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to meet firms’ growth and profitability needs. From the extant literature on UIC success factors and the revealed context, we identified the potential strategic mechanisms to stimulate UIC, and using the Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) methodology, we assessed the companies’ preferences on those mechanisms. Basing on the results from the DCE we can propose a strategic mix made of stimulating mechanisms for instilling the commitment of both academia and industry, building trust between interaction actors, creating a conducive UIC governance and policy framework, and establishing an effective information and communication system between actors. We suggest implementing the identified mechanisms concomitantly because they are interdependent and results from one influence the implementation of the others.

	Selected publications by Silas Nsanzumuhire
Articles (journal, professional, popular)
Nsanzumuhire, Silas, Wim Groot, Sofie J. Cabus & Benjamin Bizimana, 2021, `Understanding the extent and nature of academia-industry interactions in Rwanda, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 170, More information
Theses
Nsanzumuhire, Silas, 2022, Strategic Mechanisms for stimulating academia-industry collaboration in developing countries, PhD Dissertation Maastricht University