Reciprocal Knowledge-Transfer Activities between SMEs and Academia

Chapter 4 contemplates cross-border theorypractice integration as an evolutionary process. It documents the building of multiregional academic-SME knowledge interplays, which can then be expanded to reciprocal innovation knowledge transfer in a cross-border arena. Through a series of case studies, the authors offer a chronology of the three-year GIFT journey, in which the GIFT team mapped knowledge-exchange activities between cross-border multiregional GIFT members. The student-academic-SME interactions presented in the cases exemplify the value of a ‘collaborative space’, in which each participant has access to different disciplines, insights and, ultimately, knowledge. This collaborative interaction drives green innovativeness and crosses the boundaries of green innovation and future technologies in the natural-physical sciences and businesstechnology management scholarship.