Abstract
The university-industry research collaborations (UIRCs) have been recognized as an important factor of the production of innovation and have been mainly conducted by large enterprises so far. On the other hand, there are a lot of problems in the UIRCs of small- medium enterprises (SMEs) and almost of such enterprises except research and development type of SMEs have not taken a step forward the UIRCs. However, the intensity and extent of the UIRCs are important for the support of SMEs and the activities of economy since the rate of SMEs is high in the regional area. In this paper, Niigata area that is one of the areas in which SMEs are almost occupied is taken up. The characteristics of Niigata area, approaches to the UIRCs in Niigata University, joint researches between the university and industry, schemes to joint researches, and successful cases are analyzed and discussed. These results are applicable to many other areas because there are many areas in which SMEs are almost occupied.
