TRIPLE HELIX noms.pmd

W-42Measuring University Involvement in Regional Economic Development: Acomparative study in ArgentinaMartin Kunc, The University of Warwick, United KingdomTomas Bas, Universidad Adolfo Ibanez, Santiago, ChileAbstractUniversities can become important actors in emerging regional innovation systems because they have the ability to understandexisting technologies, have connections with external networks and are usually the main, if not the only, regional knowledgesource (Schiller, 2006). In order to fulfill its role, universities have to provide for a qualified workforce, locally adapted research,appropriate services and technologies for their regional stakeholders. However, there is no comprehensive set of performancemeasures to evaluate the effectiveness of their role in regional development through their linkages with industry. We propose aset of measures for analysing the involvement of universities in the development of their regional systems of innovation.The author(s) would like to acknowledge financial assistance provided by IDRC research grant 104653 for this project.Copyright of the paper resides with the authors. Submission of a paper grants permission to the 8th Triple Helix InternationalScientific and Organising Comittees to include it in the conference material and to place it on relevant websites. The ScientificCommittee may invite papers accepted for the conference to be considered for publication in Special Issues of selectedjournals.IntroductionUniversities can become important actors in emerging regional innovation systems because they have the ability to understandexisting technologies, have connections with external networks and are usually the main, if not the only, regional knowledgesource (Schiller, 2006). In order to fulfill its role, universities have to provide for a qualified workforce, locally adapted research,appropriate services and technologies for their regional stakeholders. However, there is no comprehensive set of performancemeasures to evaluate the effectiveness of their role in regional development through their linkages with industry. We propose aset of measures for analysing the involvement of universities in the development of their regional systems of innovation.This paper presents a comparative study of the results obtained from applying a set of performance indicators in three differentuniversities in Argentina.The Role of Universities in Regional Systems of Innovation and Performance MeasurementUniversity-industry linkages vary in their degree of institutionalization, which may range from the informal hiring of professorsand ad-hoc services, to long-term partnerships and joint research centers (Giuliani and Araza, 2009). In this exploratory study,we concentrate on defining the performance measures of the following activities related to the level of engagement of universitiesin the development of their regions:TrainingNew universities should be created with the explicit, central mandate to promote regional development through training people(Boucher et al. 2003, Karlsson and Johansson 2006). Training activity is key to enhance the capability of the region to absorbnew knowledge and generate solutions to production problems.ResearchThe role of developing and transferring knowledge is the subject of intense ongoing research. Gibbons et al. (1993) claim thatthe university is no longer the dominant institution developing knowledge. Nevertheless, Godin and Gingras (2000) show that theuniversity is still a major source of economically important knowledge produced through R&D. The university engagement inresearch should be considered in a certain context. R&D processes in natural resource-based industries may follow two paths(Coenen et al, 2006): R&D processes that occur inside large multinational corporations, or research institutes with close ties toindustry that are also established in such regions. In the first case, universities can be powerful engines for attracting R&Dactivities from multinationals. In the second case, universities can offer their facilities and faculty for establishing researchinstitutions to investigate local specific problems in wine production.Consulting/servicingMowery (2007) stresses that faculty consulting, although undocumented and under emphasized by universities, is generallyregarded by industry as significantly more important for knowledge transfer than patents. In this case, the motivation of theindustry is to solve immediate problems or realize opportunities. Looking at the relationships between universities and industryfrom this point of view, there is another activity similar to consulting, which is laboratory and testing services (Lester 2003).Laboratory services are examples of outsourcing functions strongly based on knowledge which require investments that exceedthe available resources of SMEs. .Madrid, October 20, 21 & 22 - 2010184