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Chapter 19
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8348-8.ch019
Knowledge Transfer between
Universities and Knowledge
Intensive Business Services:
An Empirical Study
ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors study the importance of regional entrepreneurship as well as the characteris-
tics of location, and show that the basis for creation of new firms is knowledge, thus giving emphasis to
broadcasters (spillovers) of knowledge coming from universities and other R&D institutions. Thus, the
knowledge generated arises from the collaboration between companies and public research institutions
(Audretsch & Lehmann, 2005). Here, the authors specifically address the KIBS to the extent that they
are creators, users, and transmitters of intensive knowledge. This shows the importance of the study of
cooperation between universities and firms, especially KIBS. In this sense, the empirical results dem-
onstrate that cooperation between KIBS and universities occurs independent of their location (rural or
urban) and typology (professional or technological). The authors furthermore find that rural KIBS have
increased their levels of graduate employment faster than their urban KIBS peers.
INTRODUCTION
Knowledge is the product of universities that
thereby contribute towards fostering productivity
and innovation, factors fundamental to boost-
ing development and regional competitiveness
(Martin, 1998; Muller, 2001; Howells & Tether,
2004; Toivonen, 2004; Koch & Stahlecker, 2006;
Tolstoy, 2009). The rising number of studies on
the importance of entrepreneurship at the regional
João J. Ferreira
University of Beira Interior (UBI), Portugal
Cristina Fernandes
Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, Portugal
Mário L. Raposo
University of Beira Interior (UBI), Portugal