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Abstract: Previous studies have demonstrated that the university–industry collaboration (UIC) can be beneficial not only for firms engaged in such a relationship, but also for the efficient transfer of innovative theories into practice and products. In the present study, general linear models (GLMs) and Tukey’s honestly significant difference (HSD) tests are used to evaluate the impacts of firms’ research and development (R&D) policies regarding the UIC on firms’ performance. Further tests are conducted for subgroups of firms segmented by their industries (A), collaboration types (B), and their interactions (A and B). The results indicate that while the UIC can enhance firms’ performance in general, its impacts across industries, collaboration types, and interactions are not consistent. The magnitudes of the UIC effects vary significantly across different combinations of industries, co-innovation types, and interactions. Furthermore, contrary to the traditional view of “the more the merrier” when it comes to the UIC, this study provides the evidence that some firms would be better off if their management voted against it. Thus, the results presented in this paper are useful for researchers, government officials, industrialists, and firm managers.

Keywords: R&D policies; University–industry collaboration; Performance evaluation; industries; collaboration types