Bringing Cambridge to Consett Upgrading economic outputs from university systems in less successful

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Bringing Cambridge to Consett? Upgrading
economic outputs from university systems in less
successful regions

• Presentation to the 5th Triple Helix Conference,
• Turin, Italy, 18th-21st May 2005.
• Paul Benneworth David Charles (Newcastle
  University), Aard Groen (Twente University)

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Acknowledgements

• UK Economic and Social Research Council
• David Charles Aard Groen
• Newcastle University Twente University
• Triple Helix organisers
• Work in progress, read more at
• www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/p.s.benneworth/test.htm

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Outline

• USOs in the new knowledge economy
• University spin-offs in peripheral places
• 2 Case studies of proactive universities
• Newcastle archipelago of innovation
• Twente multiple reinforcing networks
• Placing LFRs in the knowledge economy

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Economic development in the knowledge economy

• The rise of the knowledge economy
• Uneven geography and totemic sites
• Role of less successful places
• Lack of internal growth dynamism
• Triple Helix model creating new assets to fill
  the regional space

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USOs illustrating the new economy

• Spin-offs key part of stories people tell
• Features of USOs contribute to knowledge economy
• USOs external benefits of triple helix
• Global academic knowledges fixed in place
• External finance into poor region
• Government investment in science and
  valourisation
• USOs as source of entrepreneurial DNA for
  rebirth of old industrial region.

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Research questions

• How do USOs build bridges with other actors to
  transmit entrepreneurial genes?
• How do they rework and redevelop the regional
  innovation environment?
• How do spin-offs fill the empty space of less
  developed, peripheral regions?
• (External question beyond the scope of this paper)

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Methodology

• Concept of regional knowledge pool in wider
  political-economy of ST
• European Planning Studies, 2005
• Regions chosen on basis of universities regional
  engagement (IMHE 2005)
• Set of key actor interviews (2x40)
• Semi-structured, exchange of resources
• Snowball to build up regional relationships

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Newcastle and the North East of England

• Old industrial region century of decline
• Erosion of regional innovation system
• Applied university
• The idea of the Newcastle Model

Regional problem hub and spoke innovation
system
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Enschede, Textiles and the UT

• Textiles - from 1830s
• Loss of empire market closure
• Centrality of HE to Dutch post-war view
• Experimental institution
• 1986 rebranding

Regional problem vulnerability to plant
closures
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Newcastle UniversityArchipelago of innovation
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USOs supporting a sequence of innovation
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UT heavily interconnected
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Relationships between research and firms
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Building relationships

• Heuristic 1 University as desert island
• Universities as points of stability
• USOs add to biodiversity of system
• Other activities can take root
• Bigger and more impressive projects arrive
• Endpoint fully operative (small) ecosystem
• Range of scales at which this could operate

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Transmitting entrepreneurial DNA

• In Newcastle, dominance of academic professors
• Formal attempts to build into research (INEX)
• USOs supporting existing sequence biotech
• Most entrepreneurial businesses are ones that
  leave
• In Twente, strength of weak ties
• TOP broadly open to regional entrepreneurs
• TOP-pers have started own sequences
• University moving to create spin-offs
  strength?
• Building critical mass in key technological areas
• Multiple roles of university

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Building up regional system

• Heuristic 3 building coherence
• Range of different networks
• Do not look convincing independently
• USOs draw on range of resources
• Reflection of network diversity

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Filling empty space?

• New boundary-spanning activities extend scope of
  university-related activities
• ICfL, INEX, MESA, Tissue Accelerator
• USOs as initiators of new activities
• Twente (SMF, ?) USOs as cluster leaders
• Winning external recognition of region
• Building new finance markets (opportunities)

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Placing the periphery in the knowledge economy

• Smaller versions of successful places
• Limited scope (actors, niches, scale)
• Higher vulnerability (overlapping networks)?
• Some relations back to existing industries
• Autonomy of local actors vs. inevitability of
  global overpowering