Aangenaam kennismaken : acht casestudies naar kennisdeling tussen HBO instellingen en MKB bedrijven tijdens stage- en afstudeeropdrachten
2009
This report presents a research concerning knowledge sharing. Nowadays knowledge is becoming more and more important to the society. Complex, rapidly changing business processes and increasing mutual dependencies between organizations, internationalization of markets and the need for innovation and implementation of new technologies are examples of reasons why knowledge has become increasingly important. Sharing knowledge makes knowledge disseminated and more productive. That is the reason why in practice, the sharing of knowledge is essential for organizations. This is especially important for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These companies are forced to continuously be innovative, because markets are changing faster, product life cycles are shorter, batch sizes reduce and competition (globalization) is increasing. Competition based on labor costs is no longer realistic. When SMEs want to survive, innovation is a must, and to innovate knowledge is of the utmost importance. That is why especially in the SME context knowledge development and sharing must be as effectively and efficiently as possible. Many companies however do not know where they can find knowledge, while the use and sharing of knowledge is crucial to realize innovations. This is one of the reasons why the realization of innovations in SMEs in the Netherlands is currently very low. To a large extent the solution for this problem can be found in cooperation with other companies, schools and knowledge intensive organizations. Access to and cooperation with these parties is an essential condition to stimulate innovation in SMEs. The role of these parties as knowledge gateway (e.g. universities) is therefore of great importance for the innovative capacity of SMEs.
Independent research shows that SMEs are increasingly in need of higher educated employees, in particularly persons from universities of applied science (higher professional education; HBO). The growing importance of innovation and product development is one of the main reasons for the need of HBO'ers. They are seen as a necessary condition for survival and growth, as they are considered to be able to translate ideas and theories into practice. The needs of the SMEs are in line with the tasks and responsibilities of the universities of applied science. These institutions have a primary responsibility to decrease the shortage of highly educated personnel, but they also have the task and responsibility to stimulate innovation in their region. They should be market oriented in the knowledge they offer, and they should make alliances with companies and governments to facilitate knowledge creation and stimulate innovation. The result is mutual cross-pollination. The universities have the advantage of learning in authentic situations, while the company benefits from a boost in the learning process. By working together, the company has access to relevant (inter)national knowledge, potential partners and (in some cases) future employees. Knowledge sharing between these parties contributes to the necessary and constant update of developments in education and SMEs. Despite the previous, initiatives in which universities of applied science and SMEs work together are rare. Most collaborations only take place during internships or graduation projects. In order to stimulate these collaborations, and therewith knowledge creation and innovation, the stakeholders must be provided insight into the concrete added value of the cooperation. This study contributes to this insight. This research aims to contribute to the clarification of the possible role that knowledge sharing between universities of applied science and SMEs can play, through which innovation can be stimulated. In order to achieve this aim a literature study, and eight cases studies were conducted concerning knowledge sharing between universities of applied science and SMEs during internships and graduation projects.
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