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The aim of this paper is to investigate university-firm relationships in terms of knowledge creation and transfer. The paper shows how the firms' absorptive capacity influences universities' research agenda. Focusing on two specific contexts: nanotechnologies (carbon nanotubes) and Chinese universities patenting activity the study show the relevance of absorptive capacity, measured in terms of S&T public expenditures, in determining universities research priorities. Structured panel data enlists the patent activity of 86 Chinese universities (universities with more then 10 registered patents) related to carbon nanotubes field since 2000 to present. We found that public expenditures in S&T, increasing firms' absorptive capacity, push up the number of patent registered and influence universities research priorities. Some peculiarities have emerged in the analysis thanks to some result in countertendency with the cited literature. Data on renewal suggest some form of informal or tacit technology transfer strategy between academia and market, and the countertendency in data on claims demonstrate the demand-pull inclination of university research. Implications and limitations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]