ABSTRACT
The experience of the Innovation and Technology for Development Centre at the Technical University of Madrid (itdUPM) suggests that the assumption of a successful partnership brokering role in a university environment rests upon the promotion of two complementary change processes. They are a move away from a conventional silo structure to an interdisciplinary environment, and a shift towards open and diverse 'communities' that can co-produce and transfer new kinds of practical knowledge. The partnership broker role played by itdUPM has been that of providing the 'connecting tissue' for provoking, accelerating and sustaining transformative collaboration among different disciplines and actors. itdUPM functions as a horizontal networked structure with the inclusion of clear and regulated decision-making bodies that are connected to UPM authorities. The development of itdUPM as a horizontal network with its own culture within the UPM was enabled by the official acknowledgement by UPM authorities of its status as an 'innovation centre'.
