Globalization may lose its speed: international high-tech trade growth rates fluctuate sharply, the number of restrictive measures and inward-looking industrial policies grows, manufacturers redefine global value chains due to technological change and geopolitical instability.

World high-tech exports, 2017-2024 (annual growth rate, %)

Competing agendas hinder cross-sector communication, further affecting academic-industry partnerships (AIP). Companies, endeavoring to establish R&D sites abroad, encounter unwillingness to cooperate – difficulties in quality control, research approach and requirements clarification eventually force them to opt out of foreign teams. Now, when the competition is fiercer than ever, financial and human capital constraints, and IP rights issues become their biggest woes. The greatest challenge though is actors questioning efficiency of academia-industry collaboration.

1. Countries, allocating a higher percentage of their GDP to R&D, average to rank better and succeed in technological and scientific discoveries more:

Moreover, a fundamental study, covering data from 1950 to 2010 for about 15 000 universities in 1500 regions across 78 economies, revealed a positive correlation between the number of universities and a country’s future GDP per capita (10% increase – 0,4% growth).

2. Academic partnerships enable businesses to make breakthroughs and enhance their market competitiveness. These are some cases with the major industry players:

Furthermore, academia fosters entrepreneurship: 100 universities, with UC Berkeley, Stanford and Harvard at the helm, accounted for nearly 43 600 startup founders in 2024.

3. Through partnerships with leading companies, educational institutions gain access to advanced technologies and industry insights, enabling them to optimize research infrastructure (often with industry sponsorship), modify research agendas, and adjust programs to sector-specific demands, thereby amplifying their social impact.

4. With 78 million new job opportunities projected to emerge by 2030, academia plays a pivotal role in addressing labour market gaps due to the urgent upskilling needs.

KSA- and UAE-based institutions are the key drivers of AIPs in the MENA region:

Significant progress has been made so far in uniting academia and industry:

There is considerable room for improvement though. Universities lack industry expertise, while businesses’ choke point is a broader perspective: unique knowledge, unpublished research. To bridge the gaps, governments should continue encouraging scientific research and focus more on mitigating skill deficiencies and maximizing effectiveness of R&D incentives. If joint ventures and licensing agreements are the first priority, tailored funding mechanisms and proactive IP management come to the fore.