The Handbook on Universities and Regional Development offers a comprehensive and up-to-date insight into how academic institutions spur their surroundings. The volume sheds light on universities as regional development actors from a historical perspective by introducing institutional changes and discussing the interrelatedness of society, business and academia. It provides detailed investigations on various knowledge transfer mechanisms to help understand the diverse ways through which ideas and intellectual property can flow between universities and businesses. Detailed case studies from three continents (Europe, Asia, and America) demonstrate the highly contextual nature of the interactions between academia, industry and government.

Today, universities around the world find themselves going beyond the traditional roles of research and teaching to drive the development of local economies through collaborations with industry. At a time when regions with universities are seeking best practices among their peers, Shiri M. Breznitz argues against the notion that one university's successful technology transfer model can be easily transported to another. Rather, the impact that a university can have on its local economy must be understood in terms of its idiosyncratic internal mechanisms, as well as the state and regional markets within which it operates. To illustrate her argument, Breznitz undertakes a comparative analysis of two universities, Yale and Cambridge, and the different outcomes of their attempts at technology commercialization in biotech. By contrasting these two universities—their unique policies, organizational structure, institutional culture, and location within distinct national polities—she makes a powerful case for the idea that technology transfer is dependent on highly variable historical and environmental factors. Breznitz highlights key features to weigh and engage in developing future university and economic development policies that are tailor-made for their contexts.

Universities are under increasing pressure to help promote socio-economic growth in their local communities. However until now, no systematic, critical attention has been paid to the factors and mechanisms that currently make this process so daunting. In Universities and Regional Development, scholars from Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia critically address this knowledge gap, focusing on policy, organization, and the role of individual actors to uncover the challenges facing higher education institutions as they seek to engage with their regions. In a systematic and comparative manner, this book shows internal and external audiences why, how, and when the institutionalization of universities’ "third missions" should take place, and also: challenges conventional wisdom about the role of universities in society and the economy demonstrates how institutions in different nations and regions cope with local engagement combines the latest national, regional and local research with international perspectives integrates diverse conceptual and disciplinary frameworks Universities and Regional Development is a key resource for researchers and students of higher education and territorial development, educational policy makers, and university managers seeking to engage with the world beyond their university.

The study of universities’ role in regional engagement has traditionally been focusing on exceptional cases. This book presents a reconceptualization which embraces its underlying complexity and proposes a roadmap for a renewed research agenda. Starting from the grassroots level of universities’ everyday engagements, the book delves into the manifold ways in which university knowledge agents build connections with regional partners. Through 11 empirical chapters, the authors not only chart the diversity among case institutions, engagement mechanisms, and regional contexts but also use that diversity to advance a novel conceptual framework, centered on the process of mundaneness, for unpacking university-regions’ everyday activities, taking into account the dynamic, complex, and co-evolving interplay between (a) key social agents and institutions, (b) the contexts in which they are embedded, as well as (c) the historical trajectories and strategic ambitions underpinning context-specific social arrangements and interactions that are mediated by temporal and spatial dimensions. Drawing on evolutionary economic geography, innovation studies, management and organization studies, and historical perspectives, the volume advances a new mode of understanding university-regional engagement as a form of extendable temporary coupling, which also helps to address perennial policy and managerial questions alike of what to do with universities that do not serve local labour market needs and/or are located in regions suffering from brain drain. The book illustrates such dynamics from diverse national contexts and three continents: Brazil, Caribbean, China, Italy, Norway, and Poland. This book will be valuable reading for advanced students, researchers, and policymakers working in economic geography, regional development, innovation, and higher education management. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

The ways in which codified and tacit knowledge are sourced, transferred, and combined are critical in furthering open innovation. When used effectively, knowledge sharing and organizational success are significantly increased, improving products and services. The Role of Knowledge Transfer in Open Innovation is a collection of innovative research on a set of analyses, reflections, and recommendations within the framework of knowledge transfer practices in different areas of knowledge and in various industries. While highlighting topics including tacit knowledge, organizational culture, and knowledge representation, this book is ideally designed for professionals, academicians, and researchers seeking current research on the best practices for transfer of knowledge as an intermediate open innovation.

Universities are becoming more entrepreneurial, and for local communities and companies, this has increased their economic standings tenfold. However, the competitiveness of developing economies thanks to these financially focused institutions has likewise increased. Examining the Role of Entrepreneurial Universities in Regional Development provides emerging research exploring how universities foster and support entrepreneurship and the development of a more entrepreneurial organization and highlights the importance of this process for local communities and companies. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as institutional entrepreneurship, public management, and economic contribution, this book is ideally designed for university presidents, provosts, rectors, chancellors, board members, managers, business professionals, policymakers, academicians, students, and researchers.

The transfer of economically useful knowledge from universities to the regional economy has attracted the attention of academics. This book focuses on the geography of academic knowledge transfers, the mechanisms of these transfers with regard to academic entrepreneurship, and policy experience in university-based regional economic development.