Universities-industry partnership and the development of the third misson of universities

Universities are institutions where new ideas are developed, new technologies are created, new ways for improving the existing business, economic and other models are explored and developed. Universities are adjusting to the recent changes in the economic environment, and the expectations regarding their contribution to innovation and economic development. They are forced on diversifying their revenue sources, in order to become more efficient and to direct their resources towards greater commercialization of knowledge. As a response, universities are encouraged to become more 'entrepreneurial' and cooperate with the industry sector. Entrepreneurial universities have proved to be the organisations where risktaking is an expected situation when new practices are initiated, and where entrepreneurship is often perceived as implementing an innovative practice in a commercial stage of managing the profit. New universities should be organized so as to reduce the level of bureaucracy that characterizes public organizations and support the commercialization of the ideas generated at universities. Therefore, in this paper, the authors analyse the relationship between the University of Novi Sad (Serbia) and the industry sector, as well as the way in which the employees at the university participate in this cooperation.