This article develops a conceptual framework to explain the economic rationales underpinning the choice of different modes of governance of formal university-industry interactions: personal contractual interactions, where the contract regulating the collaboration involves a firm and an individual academic researcher, and institutional interactions, where the relationship between the firm and the academic is mediated by the university. Although institutional interactions, for numerous reasons, have become more important, both governance modes are currently being implemented; we would argue that they have some important specificities that need to be understood if university-industry knowledge transfer is to be managed effectively and efficiently.