University involvement in economic development in natural-resource based regions

In a globalised world, regions are acquiring more relevance especially in natural resources based industries such as wine, mining, agriculture or fish farming. Regions appeared to be following two different development paths. A region may only be known because it provides the base for the exploitation of the natural resource, e.g., copper in Chile. A region is known not only because of its primary sector but also because of its related sectors like suppliers of machinery or R&D laboratories as well as it premium quality in the production of natural resource based products, e.g., salmon in Norway. Supporting institutions like universities can be key players in attracting other firms not related directly to the exploitation of the natural resources endowments but related with the development of human capital and the development of business models based on knowledge to add value to simple natural-resource based products. We review the case of three Argentinean universities embedded in natural resource-based regions to evaluate their level of support to regional development. We conclude that universities should not only facilitate local interaction but also expand the knowledge sources developing linkages with extra-regional sources like foreign direct investments and academic networking.