This study aims to present the relationship between universities and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through a systematic literature review. SMEs play an important role in economic development. Similarly, universities are important actors in the innovation system. To fulfil the study objective, data were collected from the Scopus database. The bibliometric results found, using bibliometrix software, reveal that this topic first appeared in the literature in 1995 and entered a growth stage in 2014. Systematically, studies have focused mostly on European countries and the emphasis in cooperation is on knowledge transfer. In addition, the results show that SMEs form cooperative relationships with universities in search of competitive results. However, the main difficulty with regard to the establishment of such relationships is a lack of knowledge in SMEs about university programmes that can support them and about how to access such programmes. Therefore, it is suggested that universities should establish more effective communication channels in order to reach this type of firm.

本研究旨在通过系统的文献综述来介绍大学与中小企业之间的关系。中小企业在经济发展中起着重要作用。同样，大学是创新体系中的重要角色。为了实现研究目的，从Scopus数据库中收集了数据。使用bibliometrix软件发现的文献计量结果表明，该主题于1995年首次出现在文献中，并于2014年进入发展阶段。从系统上讲，研究主要集中在欧洲国家，而合作的重点是知识转移。此外，结果表明，中小企业与大学建立合作关系以寻求竞争性结果。然而，建立这种关系的主要困难是，中小型企业缺乏有关可以支持它们的大学课程以及如何获得此类课程的知识。因此，建议大学应该建立更有效的沟通渠道，以达到这种类型的公司。