BUSINESS has a clear incentive to develop close ties with the university sector - business thrives on innovation, while universities have a remit to push back the frontiers of knowledge. But an uneasy tension lingers in relationships between industry and academia, a tension that is only slowly being overcome. Governments recognise the value of innovation to national economies, and are encouraging industry to access academic talent and intellectual property (IP). In 2002, for example, the European Heads of State declared that the region should boost its industrial RD investment from 1.9 of GDP to 3 by 2010. The Heads of State also said industry should provide most of that extra investment.
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