ИСТИНА

The paper presents the preliminary results of the study that aims to unveil more deeply the existing barriers to participation of universities in the implementation of knowledge-intensive innovations. There is a growing body of research analyzing, from this angle, the motivations of innovators, the motivations of researchers, the impact of personal values on the motivation, the role of cultural factors in the knowledge transfer. There are also many quantitative studies on measuring entrepreneurial readiness to innovate, innovation index, spin-off effect. The ability to transform scientific knowledge into knowledge-intensive innovations is limited both by external factors related to the structure of the national education system, the start-ups financing ecosystem, the existence of business incubators, etc., and by internal reasons, including the mismatch between the interests of university and industry actors. Subjective factors are very important in this case: the discrepancy of interests can be explained by differences in the identity of researchers and entrepreneurs. The methods of studying these questions are mainly psychological, socio-psychological, and sociological methods. From our point of view, these methods should be supplemented by the empirical narrative analysis. This method can help us to get and analyze insights that reflect subjective attitudes of actors. In order to meet the objective of our study, a number of methods and techniques are combined, namely desk research, statistical analysis, and analysis of empirical data obtained by means of in-depth interviews and surveys. In spring 2023, a series of surveys started with students from natural science faculties of leading Russian and Chinese universities. Based on the research results, conclusions will be formulated concerning better ways to remove or low the existing barriers to universities participation in the implementation of knowledge-intensive innovations in emerging economies.