TECHNOLOGY AND KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER AS THIRD MISSION ACTIVITIES AT THE SLOVAK UNIVERSITIES

Purpose: This paper deals with issue of the impact and relationship between universities and regions. The authors identify the third role and related tasks for academic education and research in context of the regional development. They describe and compare the activities and contribution of the Slovak universities in the field of knowledge and technology transfer. The study discusses also the specific problems of cooperation between universities and regions. Design/methodology/approach: The paper reports selected results of a survey carried out for The Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic within the project "Strengthening the Impact of Higher Education in the Regions". Two thirds of universities in Slovakia participated in the questionnaire survey. Qualitative information was obtained from eight focus group interviews with representatives of regional authorities, employers, academic representatives and NGOs representatives from four aggregated regions (Bratislava, West, Middle and East Slovakia). Findings: This paper offers an empirical picture of initiatives connected with universities' concern about the needs of the future employers, support of entrepreneurial activities and innovative entrepreneurship in the region. The authors point to the fact that in developed countries, firms pull the new research results from universities, while in Slovakia there is rather a push effect when universities attempt to push their research results into reality of commercial firms. They mention that the dividing line between applied research and innovations are not at all clear and also point to weaknesses in the activity of universities concerning intellectual property rights protection. Research/practical implications: The authors provide case studies of four Slovak regions highlighting the opportunities, barriers and challenges in surveyed issues. They formulate also concrete policy recommendations. Presented information and findings need further examination through a broader analysis, but they also emphasize the importance of better understanding and explanation of the third mission of universities in the Slovak context. Originality/value: The paper represents a specific approach of studying third mission activities of universities and contributes to discussion of transferring the academic knowledge and technologies by empirical outlining these activities.