Perspective Of Southeast Wisconsin High Tech Industry On Government And University Programs

Results from a study show less than 10% of Southeast Wisconsin high tech companies felt that federal and state government funds were important for them to form R&D alliances with universities. Furthermore, only 52% of the companies have ever worked with a university and less than 20% actively pursued university alliances. Generally, companies stated the main impediment to forming a university alliance was that they believed such alliances were too time consuming. Study recommendations are: (1) universities should strive to meet industry’s needs instead of attempting to promote their own expertise; (2) Southeast Wisconsin universities should improve their technical relevance and credibility so that more high tech companies become interested in their offerings; and (3) increase the awareness to all sizes of high tech companies regarding available government R&D funding sources in order for government funds to effectively serve as a catalyst. The subjects of the study were 57 top executives and 31 managers and engineers from Southeast Wisconsin high tech companies with more than two employees. Standard Industrial Classification codes used by the Department of Commerce and the Bureau of Labor Statistics define the organizational format of the study.