Extent to which university- industry linkage exists in Kenya: A study of medium and large manufacturing firms in selected industries in Kenya

Abstract

The idea of technology transfer and university-industry linkage are related in the sense that the former deals with the transfer of ideas and skills between those who have them and those who need them, while the latter addresses the issue of the bond between generators of ideas and users of the ideas. It is an important aspect especially among the developing countries because it sets the phase for development, for without new ideas and skills being developed by research institutions and being applied in the industry, meaningful development would be difficult to come by. This article assesses the extent of University- Industry linkage in Kenya its objective being to determine the extent to which university- industry linkages exist in Kenya. Findings show that local government research institutions are the main source of technology transfer for manufacturing firms in Kenya, although the firms still indicated local universities as their priority number one as a source of technology. It was also found that multinational firms rely more on imported technology than the indigenous firms, which supports the hypothesis that manufacturing firms rely more on imported technology than indigenous firms.