Universities are important organizations in modern society. In a world characterized as a knowledge society, they are expected to increase the competences of individuals and provide innovations in order to increase national prosperity. The paper is devoted to the evaluation of knowledge and experience gained from qualitative research at the University of Žilina aimed at identifying gaps in fulfilling the third mission of the university, i.e. cooperation with the business environment. The qualitative research was carried out in the form of interviews according to a predetermined scenario, while the selection of respondents reflected their role at the university from the point of view of knowledge and technology transfer. The evaluation of the interviews showed that there are discrepancies in the cooperation of the university with industry and other institutions. These crucially affect the goals pursued by individual entities, which are divergent, since universities focus mainly on basic research and companies require applicability or innovations in the shortest possible time. At the same time, the university has set up an evaluation of employees with regard to publication activities in renowned world journals included in scientific databases, and the evaluation includes, to a minimum, the activity of employees in the area of ​​transferring research results into practice and direct cooperation with practice. Other discrepancies lie in the reduction of the university's activities in the area of ​​domestic conferences and seminars, or workshops intended specifically for the regional business environment. At the same time, these serve for informal interactions, personal meetings and building trust between partners from the university and industry.

Keywords: University, business, cooperation, sustainability, gaps.