A Model for Developing the University -SME’s Collaboration

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) rely on external sources of knowledge more than large enterprises due to knowledge and financial limitations for innovation, and therefore, collaboration with the university is more important for SMEs. However, history of the recent decades of university-industry collaboration in Iran shows that this collaboration is more focused on large industries. In the current research, using the grounded theory, after interviewing experts and reviewing relevant documents, the model of developing the university -SME’s collaboration was formulated. Based on the results of data analysis, in order to develop the collaboration between universities and SME’s, it is necessary to set up an Internet site, offices at the provincial and national levels to manage this relationship; Because SME’s due to limited resources cannot create organizations within themselves to communicate with the university. To increase the effectiveness of joint projects, the university should be connected to a network of SME’s instead of one firm, and diagnostic teams consisting of academic experts should identify the common problems of these networks. Finally, in order to implement improvement projects, it is necessary to attract the participation of all public, public and private institutions, due to the limited financial resources of SME’s.