Connecting Universities to Regional Growth

Louise Kempton

Centre for Urban & Regional Development Studies

Newcastle University, UK

Outline of the presentation

• The potential contribution of universities to regional innovation - the promise and the practice

• The specific mechanisms that can be used

• What are the issues/barriers– National vs regional policy making– Regional structures and governance– Finance– HEI leadership, governance and management

• Recommendations - building regional partnerships

Source material (unless otherwise acknowledged)

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/presenta/universities2011/universities2011_en.pdf

(Or just Google ‘connecting universities to regional growth’!)

POTENTIAL ROLE OF UNIVERSITIES

Seen by policy makers as KEY actors in supporting growth and jobs

• ‘In assessing the role of HEIs in the region it is useful to identify the steps needed to create a ‘connected region’ in which the institutions are key players. Through this connection process institutions become key partners for regional authorities in formulating and implementing their smart specialisation strategies’

• ‘They can contribute to a region’s assessment of its knowledge assets, capabilities and competencies, including those embedded in the institution’s own departments as well as local businesses, with a view to identifying the most promising areas of specialisation for the region, but also the weaknesses that hamper innovation’

Source : ‘An agenda for modernisation of Europe’s higher education system’ European Commission COM (2011) (567)

But this may not be a universal view

• ‘While in some quarters universities are heralded as engines of technological advance and economic prosperity…elsewhere they are attached for being “self indulgent”, “backward looking” and “elitist”’

• ‘…the sheer scale of university expansion around the world in recent decades indicates that much is expected of these curious institutions – perhaps too much, or at least perhaps not exactly what they are best designed to provide.’

Source : Stefan Collini, (2012). What are Universities For?

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5 Roles of Universities in Innovation (and Growth)

1. Driving forward the research frontier

2. Giving people the skills for innovation

3. Knowledge exchange and people transfer

4. A node in an international network of knowledge

5. Providing regional leadership – specialisation: focussing on strengths and the needs of regions

Source: National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, UKhttp://www.nesta.org.uk/library/documents/five-ways-universities-v4.pdf

Teaching Research

Academic

Societal

Education relevant to the workplace

Translation of knowledge into

innovation

Academic education

World class research

The contribution universities can make (to regional innovation/development)

Source: DR M Wedgwood, Manchester Metropolitan University

How engaged is the academy? UK Innovation Research Centre Survey of 22,000 UK academics - External interaction and commercialisation activity (% of respondents)

http://www.cbr.cam.ac.uk/pdf/AcademicSurveyReport.pdf

SPECIFIC MECHANISMS

The mechanisms by which universities can and do contribute to regional development and growth

4 Key Areas;

• Enhancing innovation through their research activities

• Promoting enterprise, business development and growth

• Contributing to the development of human capital and skills

• Improving social equality through regeneration and cultural development

Transactional Services vs. Transformational Activities

• When exploring mechanisms for intervention we need to make a distinction between the impact of ‘normal’ university activity (financed as part of the core business of teaching and research) and ‘purposive’ interventions (initially funded from a source outside higher education and then ideally ‘mainstreamed’.)

Research & innovation

Graduate enterprises

Staff spin

outs

Innovation

vouchers

Consultancy services

Technology transfer

Knowledge

transfer

partnerships

Teaching &learning

Talent attraction

Widening

participation

Workforce development

& CPD

Talent retention

Human capital

development

Stimulating innovation

Internationallinks and

investmentComplexity of the activity

Intervention type

transactional transformational

high

low

Helping businesses articulate demand

Teaching

Facilitating

networks

and clusters

Social mission &engagement

Student volunteering & community

work

Cultural development and ‘place making’

Public lectures

Physical regeneration and capital

projects

Museums and galleries

Helping the region to

articulate demand so the

resources of the university

can be mobilised in an

holistic way to promote

innovation

Helping the region to

articulate demand so the

resources of the university

can be mobilised in an

holistic way to promote

innovation

Academic Research

Lifelong learning

Universities are a critical ‘asset’ of the country and region; even more so in less favoured regions ….but

• Universities have often been absent from or had a minimal role in national or regional innovation and economic growth strategies

• Technology push model has dominated - potential contribution of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences has been generally ignored

• The principles underlying why universities can be important agents in economic development have not been well understood by public authorities

• While a range of mechanisms have been used with varying success, they have generally not been coordinated strategically to produce the maximum impact.

• To achieve this means understanding and addressing a range of barriers and challenges, both internal to the universities and in the wider enabling environment

THE BARRIERS

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National vs. Regional Policy Making

• Lack of a territorial dimension to HE policy

• HE meeting national/international research and education aspirations

• Uncoordinated HE, S&T and territorial policy at national level

• HEIs reinforcing hierarchies of regions (e.g. link between city status and citations)

• Neglect of the role of teaching and learning in knowledge transfer and human capital development

• Barriers between levels in HE (e.g. vocational and non vocational HEIs)

Impacted by local policies and driversImpacted by local policies and driversImpacted by international policies and drivers

Impacted by international policies and drivers

What is the interaction between national and regional policy making?

Science and Innovation

Economic development

Employment and skills

Planning and regeneration

Transport and infrastructure

Nationally driven

Locally driven

Regional Growth and Innovation StrategiesRegional Growth and Innovation Strategies

HigherEducation

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Regional Structures and Governance

• HE not domain of local government

• Fragmented local governments

• Limited regional level powers/authority

• Intra regional competition and urban/rural tensions

• Absence of strong private sector R&D base

• Fragmented SME populations – lack or critical mass, absorptive capacity

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Finance

• Third role legislation but not part of core funding

• Teaching funding related to student numbers/graduate output – poorly connected to regional needs

• Research not fully costed – no headroom for investment in translational research capacity

• Intra regional competition for consultancy / CPD

• Short term project based funding from variety of non HE sources

• Metrics – outcomes in non HE domains (e.g. job generation)

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HEI Governance, Leadership and Management

• Lack of institutional autonomy to respond to regional opportunities (e.g. in some countries limited control over estates, senior academic appointments etc.)

• Weak internal management in old research intensive HEIs

• Unrelated drivers for Teaching, Research and External Engagement

• Partnership working confined to senior management and / or isolated entrepreneurial academics

• Intermediate organisations (e.g. science parks, centres for continuing education) detached from academic heartland

BUILDING THE PARTNERSHIP

HOW TO BUILD CAPACITY AND INCENTIVES FOR UNIVERSITIES AND PLACES TO WORK TOGETHER

• Understanding where the place is ‘at’

• Building the partnership

• Designing and implementing interventions

• Capacity building and leadership development

No boundary spanners

Focus on supply side, transactional interventions

Ineffective or non existent partnership

Lack of a shared understanding about the challenges

Entrepreneurs ‘locked out’ of regional planning

The disconnected region

PUBLIC SECTOR

Lack of coherence between national and regional/local policies

Lack of political leadership

Lack of a shared voice and vision at the regional/local level

PRIVATE SECTOR

No coordination or representative voice with which to engage

Motivated by narrow self interest and short term goals

Dominated by firms with low demand or absorptive capacity

for innovationHIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR

Seen as ‘in’ the region but not ‘of’ the region

Policies and practices discourage engagement

Focus on rewards for academic research and

teaching

Generating intellectual and human capital assets for the region

HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR

Developing coherent policies that link territorial development

to innovation and higher education

PUBLIC SECTOR

Investing in people and ideas that will create growth

PRIVATE SECTOR

Evidence based policies that

support ‘smart’ innovation and growth

Evidence based policies that

support ‘smart’ innovation and growth

Analysis of evidence and intelligencefor planning

Building the

infrastructure

for growth

Skills development, commercialisation of research

The ‘connected’ region – strong partnerships based on shared understanding of the challenges and how to overcome them

Questions for partners

Public AuthoritiesWhat is the role of universities in economic growth?What are some of the mechanisms for involving universities in delivering growth?How can the barriers to mobilising universities be identified and overcome?How can effective partnerships and strategies be created to maximise the relationship between universities, nations and regions?

Universities and other research or academic partnersWhat benefit can universities get from working with economic and social development partners?What specific activities can universities get involved in?How can universities improve their ability to engage with national and regional development actors?

Businesses and other commercial or social partnersWhat can be done to influence policy makers?What are the benefits of cooperating with universities?What specific activities can be used to leverage the resources of universities?

Capacities needed for regions to move from ‘disconnected’ to ‘connected’

• Research labs• Talent attraction• Universities

GenerativeCapacity

• Private sector investment

• Clusters• Critical mass

AbsorptiveCapacity • Networks and

associations• Joint projects and

shared facilities

Collaborative capacity

• Boundary spanners

• Ability to create a shared vision for the future

Leadership Capacity

Needs consistent policies and strong

institutions

Needs investment in human capital and infrastructure for research

Needs investment in building ‘social’ capital and trust to promote open innovation etc. See OECD report - ‘How Regions Grow’

Recommendations (1/2)

• There should be an active attempt to a shift from ‘transactional’ to ‘transformational’ interventions with a greater emphasis on programmes rather than one-off discrete projects.

• Build partnerships in the region to specifically address the issues of engagement between universities and regions with particular attention is given to ensuring the sustainability of partnerships in the longer term, independently of funding cycles.

• Managing Authorities should assign funds from their technical assistance budgets to support capacity building within the partnership.

• Universities, business communities and other public sector authorities should demonstrate their commitment to the process by investing in their own development.

Recommendations (2/2)

• Regional Partnerships should consider participating in the OECD programme of regional reviews in order to help identify their current strengths and areas that may require capacity building and consider carefully the findings of EUIMA and other related programmes.

• Some simplification and flexibility in implementing Cohesion Policy Regulations should be considered and Managing Authorities actively encouraged to adopt a more flexible approach.

• Managing Authorities and Universities adopt a broader definition of innovation to acknowledge the role that arts, humanities and social sciences can play, especially in responding to the ‘grand challenges’ and develop mechanisms that draw on the expertise and contribution from the arts, creative industries etc.

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Building the Bridge between HEIs and Regions