New book shows importance of fifth-generation universities in reaching the UN's 17 SDGs

In University-Industry Partnerships for Positive Change Transformational Strategic Alliances Towards UN SDGs, Tim Bodley-Scott and Ersel Oymak explore how cross-sector collaboration and innovation are crucial to maximising the societal benefits of research, education and knowledge exchange, while also driving economic growth and productivity.

The authors, who have extensive experience in working at the interface between academia, industry and government, share more about their book below. 

What is your book about?

The book explores how ‘5th Generation Universities’ (i.e. a newly emerging type of university that effectively integrates research, teaching and knowledge exchange) are starting to prioritise deep, long-term and transformational cross-sector partnerships that aim to tackle some of the greatest challenges facing humanity summarised in the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The book is mainly focused on practitioners of university-industry partnerships, but also discusses the importance of working with governments and not-for-profit organisations to bring together Global North and Global South on a greater scale than ever before in light of the climate emergency, for example.

Who is the intended audience for this book?

Academics and professional services staff who are involved in developing partnerships with industry, whether large corporations, SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises) or innovative start-ups.

They may be knowledge exchange practitioners, interested in growing impactful collaborations linked to their research, teaching or innovation activities. They may also be interested in growing corporate philanthropic support.

The book is also intended to help industry professionals who have responsibility for developing strategic relationships with universities or ‘Business-to-University’ (B2U) partnerships.

What do you hope readers will gain from reading this?

An appreciation of how a strong focus on societal benefit and achieving positive change can help partnerships become a catalyst towards creating impactful, long-term and transformational strategic alliances linked to the UN SDGs.

We hope this book inspires readers to recognise the huge potential of these relationships to move beyond the transactional and towards a more strategic and transformational engagement, delivering greater impact from a university’s research, teaching and innovation programmes.

The book also includes several case studies and practical tools to assist readers in their journey of collaborating with industry partners.

Order a copy 

To order a copy of the book, please visit the Bristol University Press website.