University–Industry Collaboration Barriers: Project Management Solutions for Defense R&D—A Case Study

The defense industry must be at the forefront of technology innovation in order to accomplish its mission but an isolated research system suffers of limitations about human capital, specialized resources or facilities. An alternative to improve defense innovation system is the establishment of cooperation agreements with universities. However, university–industry collaboration presents numerous barriers for an adequate implementation. These barriers could increase when the goal is the integration of civilian and military innovation structures. This paper discusses how the Research and Development Center of the Ecuadorian Air Force overcomes these barriers by project management solutions. A long-term and multidisciplinary project is presented as a case study. The center becomes the link between the defense industry and universities creating a support and administrative structure for this project. The case studies validate barriers identified in the literature and present some solutions for cultural, institutional, and operative barriers.