TRIPLE HELIX noms.pmd

Consulting/servicingFaculty consulting, although undocumented and under emphasized by universities, is generally regarded by industry assignificantly more important for knowledge transfer than patents. In this case, the motivation of the industry is to solve immediateproblems or realize opportunities (Arvanitis et al. 2005). Looking at the relationships between universities and industry from thispoint of view, there is another activity similar to consulting, which is laboratory and testing services (Arvanitis et al. 2005).Laboratory services are examples of outsourcing functions strongly based on knowledge which require investments that exceedthe available resources of SMEs. In the case of the wine industry, winemaking activities require numerous tests that makeeconomic sense to be performed in a central location with specialized people like in universities.3. Methodology and findingsThe research methodology consisted of data gathering processes occurred between September 2006 and September 2007.Our interviews were with Deans and Directors of different areas in each university. The interviews were mainly structured aroundthe performance indicators that we developed. The universities and their regions reviewed are represented in table 1.Universidad de Cuyo (Argentina). The School of Agricultural Sciences of Universidad Nacional de Cuyo is located at 18 km fromthe city of Mendoza, in Lujan de Cuyo. Mendoza and the greater urban region have a combined population of 540,000. TheSchool of Agricultural Sciences has 1,300 students. The School of Agricultural Sciences also has 103 hectares of occupiedland with a farm, an experimental winery, experimental factory of olive oil and preserves. There are a number of institutes in theschool: Institute of Animal Biology, Institute of Soil and Irrigation, Institute of Vine and Wine; and Institute of Food Science.There are two specific programs aimed at the wine industry in the School of Agricultural Sciences. One is a bachelor of science(BSc) in oenology and viticulture. The second program is a master of science in viticulture and oenology, where students canobtain a double diploma with Ecole National Superieure Agronomique de Montpellier (AGRO-Montpellier) and INRA-Montpellier(Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique). Wine is part of common undergraduate courses such as Agricultural engineeringand Bachelor in Food Safety.Universidad de Talca (Chile) has developed connections with the wine industry so it matches our criteria of location in the regionand involvement with the industry. While the Universidad de Talca is immersed in a wine area, its strategies relate only vaguelyto industry except with respect to the participation of a research consortium with industry and other universities in Chile. Inengaging with the industry, there is a specific intent to decentralize operational decisions to particular specialized centres. Thisis the approach taken with regard to wine industry when it created the CTVV (Centro Tecnologico de la Vid y Vino). In Universidadde Talca, there are no specialized degrees in wine. The percentage of students in agriculture degrees getting jobs in thewine region is 50%: 30% of students works in activities related directly to the wine industry (vineyards and cellars), and 20%works in activities indirectly associated to the wine industry (irrigation, selling inputs from distributors, fertilizers companies,etc). In the area, there is also a strong production of apples, kiwis, corn seeds, rice that competes for students’ attention andfinal job location. Some students move to other wine regions for their jobs.We observe that Universidad de Talca does not develop its training function as intensive as Universidad de Cuyo when ismeasured through the number of courses and activities related to education specifically to the wine industry as Table 2 shows.Since most graduates in wine-related degrees come from Pontificia Universidad Catolica and Universidad de Chile, which arelocated in Santiago, there seems to be an attraction to external sources of training in wine industry in this region. Therefore,there seems to be a disconnection between the production of knowledge workers in Universidad de Talca and the requirementsof the region in terms of wine industry while Universidad de Cuyo is highly engaged in this activity.3.2. ResearchThe research indicators illustrate a conflicting picture. While there seems to be higher levels of research activity in Talcacompared to Cuyo in terms of research funding and peer review publications, Cuyo seems to have more people doing researchand more technology transfer instances. One explanation for this difference is related to the size of Cuyo compared to Talca interms of faculty and the faculty performance review existing in Cuyo, which has been implemented by request of a national law,that measures faculty engagement with industry through agreements with firms and intellectual contributions. However, facultyactivity in Cuyo is not supported by grants or measured in terms of peer review publications. In terms of the impact of theseactivities, Cuyo may be also more active than Talca as it has more technology transfer licenses with the industry. While Talcahas most of its faculties with PhDs (66%), which is in line with recent trends in Chilean Higher Education, Cuyo has very fewfaculties with PhDs, which may be affecting its research outputs although we did not have information to confirm this appreciation3.3. Consulting/servicingWhile the consulting numbers seem to indicate a high level of engagement, most of the engagement is informal rather thanformal long term relationships. However, in terms of laboratory services, Universidad de Cuyo has six laboratories for diversesubjects: molecular biology, soil, nematology, viticulture/oenology, cold, and waste management. In that sense, the laboratoriesexisting in Universidad de Cuyo provide with full services to different actors in the local wine industry as well as projects in otherareas of Argentina. In the case of Talca, most of their laboratory contracts come from the core wine industry not only located inMaule valley but also in Colchagua valley. Laboratory service contracts (1000 services per year) are widely required to Universidadde Talca due to issues such as appellation control and evaluation of vines clones to be free of virus (the main task of CTVV).Therefore, the high volume of activity is mainly driven by law requirements rather than the intention of exploiting unique andsophisticated knowledge. However, the laboratory services activities seems to be a good way of engaging with industry inproviding value added services in areas where the industry does not have skills or sufficient economies of scale.Madrid, October 20, 21 & 22 - 2010189