Reflecting back and looking forward: A systematic literature review of SME–university collaborations

Abstract

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are crucial in driving innovation, creating employment, and fostering economic development. To achieve these goals, they collaborate with various organizations, including universities, to extend their internal resources and capabilities, thereby scaling their efforts. However, inconsistent results and vague theoretical conclusions harbour ambiguity and a lack of paradigmatic analysis, hindering scholars’ ability to integrate and advance insights and harness the full potential of SME‐university collaboration for impactful outcomes. Our systematic literature review addresses these issues by providing a comprehensive and up‐to‐date understanding of the literature on SME‐university collaboration. Our review encompasses 145 peer‐reviewed publications from 1981 to 2023, showcasing the diversity of research regarding journal outlets, publication timelines, methodologies, empirical contexts, theoretical lenses, and themes. Our review reveals three paradigmatic collaboration logics: technology transfer, knowledge co‐development, and value co‐creation. We analyse and synthesize these insights to propose an overarching conceptual framework for theorizing SME‐university collaborations and supporting future research. We combine these to articulate theoretical and policy implications and present a future research agenda.