Guide to Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation

Universities
Why should universities be part of smart specialisation?
In the framework of the Education, Research and Innovation triangle, the so-called knowledge
triangle, universities 71 have a crucial role to play in creating knowledge and translating it into
innovative products and services, in cooperation with research centres and businesses.
Successful mobilisation of the resources of the universities can have a strong positive effect
on the achievement of comprehensive regional strategies.
Universities dealing with economics, public policy and administration, as well as those
dealing with specific policy areas (such as industry, health, agriculture, environment and
culture) can provide public authorities and private sectors with strategic advice, as well as
experts to work directly on regional development priorities. Universities are a critical 'asset' of
the region; even more in the less developed regions where private sector may be weak or
relatively small, with low levels of research and development activity.
There are a range of mechanisms by which universities can contribute to regional innovation
systems. Universities can, for instance, stimulate the entrepreneurial spirit of its staff and
students, provide advice and services to SMEs and participate in schemes promoting the
training and placement of high level graduates in innovative businesses. They can also host
incubators for spin-offs in science and technology parks and provide valuable input to
innovative clusters and networks. These mechanisms can be delivered as stand alone projects
or within wider strategies. The latter is the ideal and will ensure maximum impact but is
difficult to achieve as there are many barriers to overcome and there are few good practice
examples to draw on. Also, Universities and Business should directly cooperate in curricula
design and curricula deliver to ensure that graduates have the right skills and transversal
competences. By having businesses cooperating with the education part of Universities talent
attraction and retention in the region would be enhanced. Universities can also play an
important role in the field of vocational training.
Barriers and Challenges
Improving the contribution of universities to regional growth by implementing such
mechanisms requires interconnecting the partners of the innovation systems. 'Disconnections'
can occur between the partners and the barriers to overcome are of different nature. They can
be internal to the university and its capacity to ‘reach out’ to the wider region (i.e. supply
side). For instance, universities are usually focused on teaching and research, driven by
academic outputs, and are part of national academic systems that are not targeted to respond
to regional needs. As a result, some universities are viewed as being 'in' the region but not 'of'
the region where they are located.
These barriers can also be linked to the capacity and willingness of the public and private
sector actors in the region to ‘reach in’ to the university to seek expertise and knowledge that
can contribute to regional growth and development (i.e. demand side). Successful partnerships
involve 'boundary spanners' providing leadership within and across the partners and enabling
71 The term 'university' includes all higher education institutions, in line with the Commission's Communication
on the modernisation agenda for universities [COM (2006) 208].
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