Suchergebnisse

The increased popularity of and attention paid to innovation-based regional growth and development has, among other things, raised the importance of universities in regional innovation systems (RIS). The triple-helix literature especially underscores the value of increased interaction and interdependence between universities, industry, and government in modern, knowledge-based, economies by acclaiming the rise of the entrepreneurial. The author provides a comparative analysis of the RIS problems in the North East in the United Kingdom and Scania in Sweden and the role of universities in regional innovation policies addressing these problems. The results of this comparison question a one-size-fits-all (entrepreneurial) model to harness university-based knowledge resources for regional development. Instead, it is shown that various constellations are possible dependent on the characteristics of the RIS problems.

AbstractResearch and innovation policies (IPs) across Europe, particularly in Sweden, are increasingly framed by an orientation towards societal challenges, missions, and transformative change. Innovation-funding agencies are adapting to these new approaches but struggle with a host of new questions and challenges on how to re-structure public policy interventions and develop new structures for monitoring, learning, and evaluation. In this article, we investigate how this IP paradigm shift is dealt with in the IP discourse and practice in Sweden and how an incomplete shift creates mismatches and tensions with existing structures for programme evaluation and monitoring. Despite the new paradigm, the implementation of evaluation strategies mostly follows a traditional 'summative' framing. The ongoing discussions in Swedish IP demonstrate that a paradigm shift towards transformative innovation cannot unfold its potential unless it is also followed by a shift in the practices of programme implementation and evaluation.