Relations between universities and business in the transition period

The article examines the change in relations between the universities and business associations brought by Hungary's transformation into a market economy, in the period up to accession to the EU. To investigate the types and characteristics of these relations, it uses innovation system theory and the triple helix model. There is analysis of how the government has spurred such relations and how businesses relate to the universities. An important part of the research was made up of the findings of four innovation surveys analysed from the point of view of university-business relations. Examining university-business cooperation from the innovation side shows how influential universities are as knowledge-generating bodies to the inception of innovations and to their penetrating or gradual character, and how commercial thirst for innovation affects the development of university research. University/industry interactions still contribute only to a limited extent to the development of the knowledge-based economy.