In a fast moving business environment university-industry collaborations play a critical role in contributing to national economies and furthering a competitive advantage. Knowledge transfer from university to industry is supported by national governments as part of their innovation, national growth and competitiveness agenda. A university-industry landscape involves multiple stakeholders with multiple, and often contradicting, objectives and organizational mind-set and cultures. The paper is based on a systematic literature review of the effectiveness of university-industry collaborations from a holistic perspective in order to identify drivers and barriers to a fruitful collaboration. A dedicated section explores knowledge transfer in the emerging market context to provide an international dimension to a growing international trend in university-industry collaboration. The key findings on success factors relate to organizational and individual contexts, knowledge attributes and relational aspects. The literature research findings are further tested through a survey of key stakeholders: university managers, researchers, industry managers and government representatives, revealing differences in perception among various stakeholders’ groups. The paper provides an insight into drivers and potential barriers in university-industry collaborations. The findings enable developing a practical framework for the universities to support their decision-making process. The framework can be used a support tool for evaluating university-industry collaborations both generally and in the international context.