A Literature synthesis: merging academic research and industry development requirements for a better responsive construction sector

Abstract

A university is a scholarly organism committed to inquiry, investigation and discovery at all levels with an embedded symbiotic relationship between teaching, research and also practice. Lecturers receive a number of benefits resulting from their research activity which accrue to the human, financial and intellectual resources of the university, which subsequently benefit students, and ultimately the relevant industry. Research and Development can contribute to finding solutions to the challenges faced by the construction industry and making it highly valued by its customers. The internal dynamics of construction organisations must be such that they can respond to change. This implies that academic research in the built environment higher education institutions should be in line with the requirements of construction industry and there is a need that the academic research should finally be penetrated to the construction industry. However, there is lack of evidence that construction industry adopts new findings of academic research into their practice. The research study, on which this paper is based on, aims to address the process of merging academic research and industry development requirements for a better responsive construction sector. This paper reports on the preliminary literature findings when exploring the research issues related to such a merger.