The article links upgrading in the global value chains with the triple helix concept by focusing on business-academia collaborations that played a part in firms’ capacity to upgrade. Both are crucial for Central Eastern European countries, which face the need to restructure their economies and escape the “middle income trap”. The article asks the following research question: how can public policy encourage business-academia collaboration or other types of activities that contribute to firm upgrading? Data on four different case studies in Lithuania is analysed to answer this question. Results indicate that building endogenous technological capacity through a variety of business-university collaboration types is needed to attract higher-value foreign direct investment and facilitate intersectoral and functional global value chain upgrading. Furthermore, besides research and development, educating and training the labour force are likely to be even more poweful drivers for business-academia collaboration in Central and Eastern Europe.

本文通过关注在企业升级能力中发挥作用的商学合作，将全球价值链的升级与三螺旋概念联系起来。两者对于面临重组经济和摆脱“中等收入陷阱”的中东欧国家来说都至关重要。文章提出了以下研究问题：公共政策如何鼓励企业与学术界的合作或有助于企业升级的其他类型的活动？分析立陶宛四个不同案例研究的数据来回答这个问题。结果表明，需要通过多种商业-大学合作类型来建设内生技术能力，以吸引更高价值的外国直接投资，并促进跨部门和功能性全球价值链升级。