Author Description

"The role of human resources in innovation is a critical element in the large company's constant adaptation to change. The university is the main production source of this resource. Hence the importance of understanding how universities and big business interact to keep the university abreast of the needs of the productive world. The German experience is particularly solid, the fruit of an historical process in which industry and the academic world have followed convergent paths. In addition to consideration of systemic relations between the state, higher education, and companies, the volume considers the experience of two specific business sectors, chemicals and engineering. Both sectors interact intensively with the academic world but very differently in terms of their requirements from it and the ways in which their relationships take concrete form. The experience of the Basf and Mannesmann Demag companies is indicative of the continuity and complexity of the relations of German industry with the higher education system."--Back cover.