Breaking down knowledge barriers between higher education, research and business in Logistics. Evidences from "FRAMELOG" Erasmus+ Project

The aim of the paper is to investigate the current state of the art regarding the knowledge circulation and collaboration patterns among Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), business, and research organizations in the field of Logistics. The main focus of the study is the so-called “knowledge triangle”, a concept related to the need for improving the impact of investments and inter-organizational knowledge circulation in the three activities involved – education, research, and innovation – by systemic and continuous interactions. Also, we used the Nonaka and Konno frameworks of knowledge creation, applied to the inter-organizational level, to highlight some high-impact knowledge solutions that have been adopted to overcome knowledge barriers and to enhance the quality of the knowledge creation process between and among the key actors within the Triangle. We performed an analysis of the current offer in the higher education panorama throughout Europe, including criteria, methods, and tools used to evaluate the level of cooperation between the actors. Finally, some solutions for implementing an efficient framework for “knowledge triangles” were identified. The chosen methodology presents a mix of different, mostly qualitative approaches. After a literature review, a multiple case study analysis and brainstorming activities with experts were carried out. In addition, we conducted a survey in approximately 100 selected organizations working in a Knowledge Triangle at the European level. The results obtained in the development of this in-progress study underscore a weakness in the strategic connections as well as some knowledge barriers between the key actors composing the Knowledge Triangle in the Logistics area. In the development of the EU Project, those results will be the foundation of an effort to identify solutions to overcome the knowledge barriers and to strengthen the strategic partnerships among the three actors, which could also be tested in fields of application other than logistics