Role of formal boundary spanning structure and changing pattern of university-industry collaborative research in University of Tokyo

University-industry linkages (UIL) provide firms with creative ideas and solutions to their problems and universities with critical research funds. In Japan, a series of institutional and policy reform has been made to promote UIL since the end of 1990s, including the historical incorporation of national universities in 2004. Traditionally, a UI collaborative research in Japan has been formed by facultypsilas informal, personal relationships with firms. To overcome the limitations of traditional approach, a formal, specialized boundary spanning structure, such as UI liaison office, was established in major research universities to effectively bridge universitypsilas knowledge seeds with industrial needs. The goal of this research is to show how the formal boundary spanning structure has changed the patterns of UI collaborative research based on the data of 3,041 UI collaborative researches between 2003 and 2006 in the University of Tokyo. Especially, we analyze how the Proprius 21, which is a boundary spanning program focused on intensifying prior feasibility study, searching the best researcher, matching best partners, and strengthening research planning between UI, has increased the number and size of collaborative research projects.