TRIPLE HELIX noms.pmd

O-056THE ROLE OF TRIPLE HELIX ORGANIZATIONS IN UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY RELATIONSHIPSManuel Fernandez-Esquinas, Carmen Merchán-Hernández, Leticia Rodríguez-Brey, Oihana Valmaseda-Andía, Institute ForAdvanced Social Studies (CSIC), SpainIntroductionTriple Helix dynamics have emerged together with a group of specialized organizations aimed at creating networking andconsensus spaces for different actors. Offices of technology transfer (OTT), science and technology parks and incubators arethe main Tripe Helix (TH) organizations to promote and channel university-industry relationships.This paper studies the role played by TH organizations in the existing relationships between university and industry in a regionaluniversity system. Our main goal is to identify the degree to which they are involved in the innovation dynamics of firms in aregion and the functions they play in the multiple forms of the relationships that firms establish with universities.BackgroundHybrid organizations are one of the main micro-components on TH institutional arrangements. They function as boundaryspaces that allow practices from different domains to operate, and eventually to overcome cultural barriers. Research in thisfield usually highlights their growing importance, the conditions for promoting interactions and effective alliances, as well as theproblems associated with merging different cultures and practices.Nevertheless, research on this topic has difficulties in showing the real importance of hybrid organizations for the innovativefirms surrounding a university system. On the one hand, empirical studies face the problems of using data reported by universities,especially from OTT registries. These data usually display the firms that strive to establish some formal relationships. On theother hand, official innovation surveys neither observe all the specific links maintained with universities, nor do they address thevalue attributed by firms to TH organizations. Therefore, it is difficult to determine what kinds of firms in a given environmentreally use TH organizations, and for what kind of relationships.Research focus and methodologyOur paper pursues three research questions for studying these issues: 1) What kind of firms use TH organizations? 2) Whysuch firms draw on TH organizations, and specifically, for what kind of purposes? 3) Do different TH organizations have aspecific role depending on the kind of university-industry relationship?The data for our empirical analysis resides in a face-to-face survey to 737 firms conducted in 2008. The research site isAndalusia, the biggest region of Spain in terms of population. It is characterized for having an extensive public university sector,a traditional industrial environment and a set of innovation policies which are designed to mobilize R&D capabilities in theregion. Our sample of firms reflects the diversity of sectors, size and innovative profiles of firms in the region.The survey includes two sets of indicators reflecting both the intervention of TH organizations in establishing links with universitiesand the importance attributed to them by firms. The survey also measures an extensive set of university-industry relationships,ranging from projects and patents, to consultancy and human resource training.The analysis of the data is organized in three steps. In the first step, we use descriptive procedures to show the role played bydifferent TH organizations and the importance attributed to them by firms. In the second step, we build dependent variables thataccount for the 'centrality' of three of them: OTT, science parks and incubators. In the third step, we use regression analysis todetect what factors shape the role of these organizations in a regional university system.Findings and implicationsThe findings show that TH organizations have different levels of participation depending on the structural and absorptive capacitiesof firms in the region. TH organizations also differ depending on the kind of knowledge associated with the links firms establishwith universities. The results of the study highlight contributions for refining the TH framework from a micro-level point of view andprovide implications for university policy in catch-up regions.Madrid, October 20, 21 & 22 - 201093