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Conceptualizing the Regional Roles of Universities, Implications and Contradictions

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  • Elvira Uyarra

Abstract

The impact of universities on the economic wellbeing and innovative potential of regions has been the object of intense scholarly and policy interest in the last years. Despite this interest, a clear picture is missing in relation to the roles universities are seen to play, the benefits of university activities and the mechanisms through which they occur. This paper proposes a review and a critique of current views on the role of universities and their associated policy implications. To achieve this, the paper identifies five “models” for universities as they are reflected in the literature, each advocating different set of roles of universities, different spatial aspects of interactions, as well as different mechanisms for university engagement. National and regional innovation and research policies tend to explicitly or implicitly reflect one or a combination of several of these models, giving rise to potential contradictions or conflicts of policy rationales and objectives.

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  • Elvira Uyarra, 2009. "Conceptualizing the Regional Roles of Universities, Implications and Contradictions," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(8), pages 1227-1246, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eurpls:v:18:y:2009:i:8:p:1227-1246
    DOI: 10.1080/09654311003791275
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Saul Lach & Mark Schankerman, 2008. "Incentives and invention in universities," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 39(2), pages 403-433, June.
    2. Greenberg, Daniel S., 2007. "Science for Sale," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226306254, December.
    3. Sharon Belenzon & Mark Schankerman, 2007. "The Impact of Private Ownership, Incentives and Local Development Objectives on University Technology Transfer Performance," CEP Discussion Papers dp0779, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    4. Flanagan, Kieron & Uyarra, Elvira & Laranja, Manuel, 2010. "The ‘policy mix’ for innovation: rethinking innovation policy in a multi-level, multi-actor context," MPRA Paper 23567, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Belenzon, Sharon & Schankerman, Mark, 2007. "The impact of private ownership, incentives and local development objectives on university technology transfer performance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 3724, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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    Cited by:

    1. Cornelia Lawson, 2016. "Putting the Region First: Knowledge Transfer at Universities in Greater Manchester," International Studies in Entrepreneurship, in: David Audretsch & Erik Lehmann & Michele Meoli & Silvio Vismara (ed.), University Evolution, Entrepreneurial Activity and Regional Competitiveness, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 303-325, Springer.
    2. Friedrich Dornbusch & Sidonia von Proff & Thomas Brenner, 2013. "The organizational and regional determinants of inter-regional collaborations – Academic inventors as bridging agents," Working Papers on Innovation and Space 2013-11, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    3. Kroll, Henning & Schricke, Esther & Stahlecker, Thomas, 2012. "Developing new roles for higher education institutions in structurally-fragmented regional innovation systems," Working Papers "Firms and Region" R2/2012, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    4. Martina Fromhold-Eisebith & Claudia Werker, 2013. "Universities’ functions in knowledge transfer: a geographical perspective," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 51(3), pages 621-643, December.
    5. John Goddard & Louise Kempton & Paul Vallance, 2013. "Universities and Smart Specialisation: challenges, tensions and opportunities for the innovation strategies of european regions," EKONOMIAZ. Revista vasca de Economía, Gobierno Vasco / Eusko Jaurlaritza / Basque Government, vol. 83(02), pages 83-102.
    6. Sánchez-Barrioluengo, Mabel, 2014. "Articulating the ‘three-missions’ in Spanish universities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(10), pages 1760-1773.
    7. Friedrich Dornbusch & Thomas Brenner, 2013. "Universities as local knowledge hubs under different technology regimes – New evidence from academic patenting," Working Papers on Innovation and Space 2013-10, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    8. Herbst, Mikolaj & Rok, Jakub, 2013. "Mobility of human capital and its effect on regional economic development. Review of theory and empirical literature," MPRA Paper 45755, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Dornbusch, Friedrich & Brenner, Thomas, 2013. "Universities as local knowledge hubs under different technology regimes: New evidence from academic patenting," Working Papers "Firms and Region" R6/2013, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    10. Michaela Trippl & Tanja Sinozic & Helen Lawton Smith, 2015. "The Role of Universities in Regional Development: Conceptual Models and Policy Institutions in the UK, Sweden and Austria," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(9), pages 1722-1740, September.
    11. Kroll, Henning & Schubert, Torben, 2014. "On universities' long-term effects on regional value creation and unemployment: The case of Germany," Working Papers "Firms and Region" R1/2014, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    12. Dornbusch, Friedrich & Kroll, Henning & Schricke, Esther, 2012. "Multiple dimensions of regionally-oriented university involvement: How motivation and opportunity prompt German researchers to engage in different ways," Working Papers "Firms and Region" R6/2012, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    13. Kroll, Henning & Schricke, Esther, 2013. "Patterns of technology transfer in Chinese hotspots of innovative development: The perspective of the recipient firms," Working Papers "Firms and Region" R2/2013, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).

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