He who pays the piper calls the tune? Setting the stage for an informed discourse on third-party funding of academic business research

Third-party funding of academic research has grown rapidly in its scope and impact. However, several forces demand greater attention to potential opportunities, challenges and threats of third-party research funding. Adopting a historical approach rooted in Anglo-Saxon academia, we discuss what third-party research funding means for European business researchers, which opportunities and tensions arise, and how to best manage them in the interest of the diverse stakeholders of our field. Finally, we introduce the six papers in this special issue and how they move the conversation on third-party research funding forward. The evidence base provided here is composed of a rich blend of empirical data, reflections on personal experience and conclusions drawn from formal mathematical models. As a result, the collection of papers offers a kaleidoscope of the state-of-the-art of research on third-party funding of academic business research in Europe. The insights emerging from these six papers collapse into a clear overall picture with each paper contributing a distinct jigsaw piece, a picture we present and discuss in this paper.