The spatial dimension of the triple helix: the city revisited – towards a mode 3 model of innovation systems

Abstract

Cities have often been perceived as living laboratories with the right ingredients for a sea change. In fiction the city can be an initiator, a pacemaker or a victim of big transformations – what it will be depends on a specific set of different factors working in a complex system of interrelating variables. In cities we find the intermingling of ideas as well as the spontaneous formation of viable, critical mass of new developments and concepts muddling through. The idea of analyzing city dynamics with a system approach and with an eye to the transformative dimension not only is intriguing, it is highly relevant in times of increasing urbanization, limited resources of our current existence, and new communication technologies. At the dawn of the 6th Kondratieff we analyze data flows to find patterns of connectivity and identify systemic risks to find answers not only for understanding how fuzzy relationships function and systems produce results, but also to find models of new governance and second order intervention to enable cities to organize themselves - in a desired, more sustainable direction. Research is dedicated to facilitate and speed up intelligent intervention into system behavior to enable systems to repurpose themselves (Schwaninger et al. 2006). Governance of innovation applied to the complex process of city development and to decision-making in stakeholder based city systems is a relatively new and interdisciplinary strain of thought. Research goes beyond the Mode 2 networking institutional relationships and aims at the contours of a Mode 3 model to provide governance and steering information for managing the complexity of a multitude of Mode 2 organization. i.e. of spatially and temporarily overlapping innovation systems on different recursion levels. The authors of this special issue present cases of different countries and tentatively integrate frameworks such as ecosystems, triple helix university–industry–government relationships, and knowledge clusters in order to analyze the empirical complexity of political, societal, technological and ecological interaction in the evolutionary context of cities. The contributions in this special issue address the relation between Triple Helix relationships and urban agglomerations. In this framework, universities, industries, governments, and citizens are seen as key actors to contribute to the formation of new collaborative environments and identities increasing the innovation capabilities and facilitating continuous improvement (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff 2000, Kaufmann and Toedtling 2001). The articles demonstrate that the relationship between