Triple Helix Cooperation Research Articles

Evolution of Knowledge Structure in an Emerging Field Based on a Triple Helix Model: the Case of Smart Factory

As an important emerging field of science and technology, smart factories have received attention from academia, industry, and the government. Currently, although some scholars have examined the research trends in the field of smart factories, we have not found any research on the analysis of the knowledge output of relevant organizations among smart factories. An urgent problem is whether cooperation between organizations with different characteristics will affect the overall development of intelligent factories. This study aimed to perform a comprehensive analysis of the knowledge content and structure of a smart factory and the characteristics of its knowledge production structure. We also evaluated whether the triple helix structure was stable, and whether the research topics of different issues were similar. The triple helix model was used to study three aspects of the knowledge structure of a smart factory: university, government, and industry. Furthermore, the research contents of different organizations were analyzed in detail using network analysis. It was found that research funding at the national level leads to a knowledge spillover effect. After 2015, a triple helix knowledge structure was formed in the field of smart factories, which maintained a certain stability until 2020. The output of triple helix cooperation research has a significant impact. University research focuses more extensively and intensively on technology, government research on macro aspects, and Industry 5.0 has become a hotspot in industry research. The government needs to provide new platforms to integrate and promote the development of smart factories.

Enabling the Triple Helix Model Through the Implementation of Smart Specialization: the Case of Ukraine

Introduction. Euro-integration determines the need to harmonize the innovation policy of Ukraine in line with smart specialization (SS). SS is a quite new tool to facilitate knowledge-based growth in regions.Problem Statement. SS aims at stimulating new economic activities that emerge at the intersection of interests of many different stakeholders. The SS implementation in Ukraine started from pilot activities in 3 regions, in 2017. Their results were not considered properly while incorporating SS into regional development strategies. Despite technical support from the European Commission, many regions were not able to change the policy making process and to ensure proper triple helix (TH) interactions. The under-involvement of the state in the process is among the reasons thereof, so the role of the state in SS has been explained in the paper too.Purpose. The purpose of this research is to assess the SS implementation in Ukraine in the context of TH interaction between innovation stakeholders.Materials and Methods. The study is based on the data obtained by the authors during the elaboration of smart specialization for Kyiv city and Kyiv Oblast, the analysis of the regulatory framework, as well as other analytical materials and research papers. The expert opinion generalization, content and statistical analysis methods have been used.Results. The first steps in the implementation of the SS concept in the strategies of regional development have been assessed, the problems and ways to address them have been identified in order to facilitate the SS and to strengthen TH cooperation in Ukraine. The current situation with the implementation of SS has been analyzed. The analysis has shown paths for assessing the Ukrainian innovation capacity, international developments, and the development of the existing essential tools to control the progress in the promotion of smart specialization in the country. The report on the development of SS in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast with an emphasis on the problems related to the involvement of stakeholders has been prepared.Conclusions. The key barriers for the SS implementation, namely, inconsistency of the legislation, underdeveloped innovation and industrial policies have been identified and the ways for overcoming these barriers have been proposed.

New hybrid organizations creating bridges through innovative educational solutions: The case of Hilversum Media Campus, the Netherlands

Disruptive technologies and services created a new paradigm that changed the way media were created, threatening traditional media organizations. Many media companies have been challenged to respond to new types of media formats, productions and channels, for which they have needed new talents with the right skills and space to experiment. This paper presents the case of the Hilversum Media Campus (HMC) in the Netherlands, a hybrid organization created by a Triple Helix cooperation to develop the new talents necessary to maintain Het Media Park as an economic regional center and for the country’s media industry. This article reflects on the role of hybrid organizations as connection centers of actors, knowledge and interests; discusses the emergence of a new paradigm and its effects on the media sector; and reconstructs the history of the HMC, its conceptualization and structuring, its processes and the results achieved. In the case analysis, certain factors stood out with regard to the results achieved: the research into stakeholders’ ambitions and interests, which led to a defined strategy and targeted actions; the business model construction, with parties having to contribute financially; the allocation of means, bringing energy and focus to the supported deliverables; and the autonomy of the HMC.

EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE TRIPLE HELIX MODEL IN TURKEY

The triple helix cooperation is in on-going development process in Turkey. Government is starting initiatives and supporting the industry and universities with various financial incentives and opportunities. Turkish and Kazakh “research universities” have a special status, and they are expected to produce knowledge that will be of great significance, innovation and produce concrete outcomes and products based upon creative and innovative scientific idea. The research was carried out in the frame of AP08052656 “Readiness assessment of Kazakhstani higher educational institutions for transformation within the context of “Triple Helix” project, funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

How are companies paying for university research licenses? Empirical evidence from university-firm technology transfer

The knowledge economy has put the triple helix cooperation at the heart of economic growth. In this current paradigm, innovation is vital to firm survival, and universities are seen as an undeniable source of new ideas, talents and ventures. The optimal payment scheme for technology licensing be it from a licensee or licensor point of view is an ongoing debate. Researchers have disputed the advantage of fixed fees versus royalty for both parties involved and the benefits of entering the market for an outsider. A recurrent concern in the literature is the lack of empirical evidence to support these claims. Furthermore, while a plethora of studies defend the superiority of fixed fees over royalty, royalty payments still constitute a major part of licensing income for universities and licensor companies alike. Hence, there is a disconnect between the theoretical optimal payment scheme and the payment scheme adopted by companies and universities. We develop a framework to explain the source of this discrepancy. Using the AUTM STATT database, we analyse the effect of company size on the payment type. Our empirical results show that fixed fees are associated with licenses to large companies while royalty is associated with licenses to small companies. Startups pay neither and give equity instead of payment. Our results point to the importance of government intervention to level the field for different company types, and achieve successful university-industry cooperation and knowledge transfer.

Transforming requirements for engineering occupations as affected by technological changes

This article is devoted to studying the influence of technological changes on transforming the necessary set of skills for engineering occupations. The expected changes in qualification requirements for engineers is based on the analysis of industrial revolution. The growing importance of soft skills is acknowledged. The methodological conclusions regarding the need to take into account the level of triple helix awareness, along with the parameters of the labor market when forecasting the directions for qualification requirements transformation for engineers were substantiated. It is noted that being ahead in the formation of new skills may have a positive impact on the growth in innovative activity. It is this aspect of the relationship between technology and qualification development trends that determines the role of educational organizations in the innovation ecosystem. It is shown that the convergence of technologies leads to an expansion of the range of professions referred to as engineering. The use of particular tools for assessing the demand for competencies allows solving only situational research tasks, whereas in the meanwhile scientifically advanced ecosystems require a system for monitoring technological and qualification changes, primarily in relation to engineering qualifications, since they can become a "bottleneck" of technological development. A methodology for systematizing the influence of technological trends on the qualification requirements is proposed. The mentioned methodology is based on bringing into conformity reciprocal trends on the meso-level within the framework of triple helix cooperation on the regional scale. As the labor market acquires flow characteristics, the need for separate monitoring procedures will decrease, with analysis algorithm simplifying.

The effect of triple helix cooperation on business innovation: The case of Spain

The aim of this study is to describe and analyse the possible synergic effect of the cooperation of Triple Helix agents, university, industry and government, on business innovation. We use data available in the PITEC database (Technological Innovation Panel), taking a sample comprising 11,769 Spanish firms from different sectors for the 2007–2016 period. The binomial logistic model used reveals that the cooperation of firms with any Triple Helix agent increases the likelihood of innovation regardless of the type (product innovation, process innovation or a combination thereof). It also concludes that the greater the number of Triple Helix model agents who cooperate, the greater the chances of business innovation, confirming the synergic effect between different agents.

Mapping of triple helix cooperation to develop local economic activation in Kampong Dolly, Surabaya

Kampong Dolly was popular back in the days when this district in Surabaya well-known as biggest prostitution area in South East Asia. It was not an easy job to drastically change from prostitute area into tourism destination. This collaboration is very important to do so that the potential of Kampong Dolly can be used as effectively and efficiently as possible in order to improve the welfare of the community. Triple Helix collaboration designed as a capital for developing a Local Economic Activation to support the branding of Dolly Tourism Village, improve community welfare and enhance the competitiveness of the creative industries in Surabaya City to national and international levels. The government uses SMEs scheme to employ ex-prostitute workers, therefore, it need strong commitment and hard work from many stakeholders. SMEs in Kampong Dolly has collaborated with the government, private sector and academics. However, the role of the government and academics still very weak in developing resources and technology. On the other hand, as for the collaboration of the private sector, low investment in terms of technology, which was developed to improve the advantages possessed by SMEs in Dolly Village.

The intermediary as an institutional entrepreneur: institutional change and stability in triple-helix cooperation

This paper aims to illustrate how the triple-helix concept can be implemented on a city level by establishing an intermediary among the scientific, economic, and public administration spheres and civil society. By using the example of Bielefeld 2000plus, an initiative founded for this particular purpose, this paper shows that in today’s knowledge society, certain inter-organizational conflicts and challenges regarding cooperation may arise that an intermediary actor can channel efficiently. Furthermore, Bielefeld 2000plus serves as a prototypical example and is used to derive a theoretical model of such an intermediary actor as both the product of and platform for institutional entrepreneurs who try to elicit institutional change. Drawing on extant literature that examines intermediaries with the triple-helix concept, as well as institutional entrepreneurs, this paper discusses how an intermediary can act as an institutional entrepreneur by adopting a bifunctional framework, with all the advantages and disadvantages that this entails. This framework is condensed into the Bifunctional Intermediary (BFI) Model, which may benefit researchers studying triple-helix processes and practitioners seeking to establish an intermediary.

New Forms of Local Governance and the Transformation of Administrative Law

In policy areas in which the cities are today leading, networked collaborations between state and nonstate actors to co-define the public good are increasingly supplementing classic models of administrative governance. While triggered by the combination of spatial interconnection, internal density, and knowledge creation in contemporary urban spaces, these hybrid structures come at a price. Although created to pursue a public interest as much as any other administrative body, the discretion exercised in these organizations is horizontally fragmented across a set of actors, each of whose individual reflexion is equally needed to generate the common goal of the collaboration. The dilemma this appears to create comes down to one question: what is the role of administrative law in ensuring the legal accountability of these forms of collaborative urban governance? This article looks at Brainport Eindhoven, a Dutch triple-helix cooperation pursuing economic innovation. Based on this illustrative case study, it argues that, to cope with this institutional innovation, scholarship must abandon the classic public law paradigm of administrative law and explore rules and mechanisms to ensure that partners effectively collaborate to achieve the desired common outcome together.

Triple helix networks matching knowledge demand and supply in seven Dutch horticulture Greenport regions

This paper investigates the triple helix (industry, knowledge workers and governments) cooperation on knowledge co-production and valorisation for innovation, which took place in seven horticultural regions in the Netherlands. It thus provides more empirical insight into the functioning of this form of cooperation. Based on a secondary multiple case study analysis, this paper sets out to ascertain what enabled triple helix cooperation in the seven regions with respect to the organisation, the formulation and support for goals and action on knowledge co-production and valorisation. The results indicate that in order to stimulate innovation through triple helix cooperation, the different partners fi rst need to build a proper working relationship and a common language. In order to accomplish this, primary aims for innovation should not be formulated too ambitiously (i.e. too far beyond the entrepreneurs’ daily practice, in particular SMEs). Knowledge workers and policy makers often want to stimulate knowledge co-production and valorisation more radically and quickly. Hence, they have to temper their ambitions. Procedures regarding the cooperation should be rather simple and fl exible. Once a steady working relationship and a common language are developed, then the triple helix collaboration can focus on taking the innovation ambition to a higher level in order to realise more valuable change. At first, entrepreneurs have to experience how they can profit from the cooperation and learn to incorporate knowledge co-production and valorisation step-by-step in their business strategy, including fi nancial investments.

Approach for sustainable processes for the built environment in triple helix cooperation: the case of Storsjö strand in Östersund

The built environment is an important component for a sustainable society. Choices made today will affect society during decades to come, both regarding performance of buildings and in affecting what is possible choices regarding mobility, energy, waste handling and human well being in general. There have been several projects in Sweden and around the world aiming at better sustainability performance of new built areas. A strong experience from earlier projects is that it is not that easy to actually achieve high ambitions set up at project initiation; the most common example in this direction that requirements on energy efficiency are not achieved when measuring in actual use of the final building.
 The project Storsjö Strand, a new township in Östersund in an earlier industrialized area, has aimed to work around identified earlier problems, using a strong interactivity and a triple helix process with the municipality, developers, and the university. The role of the university is to through an action research approach both be involved in the process to help guide it and to document and evaluate the process, with the research goal to contribute to and develop sustainable building processes for Sweden and elsewhere.
 The Storsjö Strand project is presently an ongoing project. This paper describes the approach taken and how it is a development of earlier approaches for sustainable building processes and also evaluates early experiences of the triple helix process.

Networks of Innovation and Competitiveness: A Triple Helix Case Study

This paper aims to study the knowledge and technology transfer processes taking place in cooperation between academia and industry cooperation through an EU-funded R & D project. We follow a qualitative research methodology through a case study, incorporating interviews with the institutional actors involved (university, industry and government) in the cooperation project. While this study is limited to a case study, it does, however, highlight the importance of Triple Helix networks in order to develop research, development and innovation (RDI) initiatives and their commercialization and correspondingly enabling the identification of both potential opportunities and constraints in the process. Through the practical perspective of a successful Triple Helix cooperation case study, we were able to develop an innovative and continuous olive harvesting machine in order to satisfy a real need in the Mediterranean market. Inserted within the context of the triangulation of the Triple Helix model, this paper demonstrates the importance of RDI cooperation networks and the consequent commercialization of new tradable products with positive consequences to regional competitiveness.

Foreign direct investment and innovation in Estonia

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to study the linkages between inward and outward foreign direct investment (FDI) and the innovation inputs and outputs of domestic and foreign owned companies in Estonia, a small economy in CEE.Design/methodology/approachThe econometric analysis of the data about the linkages between FDI and innovation is made using the model by Créponet al., which allows estimation of the innovation expenditure equation, the knowledge production function (with various innovation output variables as dependent variables) and the productivity equation (production function), with all the equations including company and industry level FDI variables.FindingsThe results show that the higher innovation output of foreign owned companies vanishes after various company characteristics are controlled for, but there were significant differences in innovation inputs such as the higher use of knowledge sourcing and the lower importance of various impeding factors. Outward investment has a positive influence on innovativeness among both domestic and foreign owned companies.Practical implicationsThe managers can benefit from this study by tapping into a wider range of knowledge sources via diverse and active involvement in exporting and investing activities. Often they fail to realise that initiation of international activities can also serve as an important learning opportunity in becoming more innovative. The policy implications suggest that government policies as well as triple helix cooperation should be oriented not only towards attracting foreign interest, but also towards building opportunities for more extensive regional and international business networking by exporting and outward FDI.Originality/valueThe originality of the study lies in the usage of the data from a small open economy of Central and Eastern Europe. This region is a good candidate for studying the impacts of FDI; while CEE countries were closed to FDI before the onset of transition, since the beginning of transition they have witnessed massive FDI inflows. The present study seems to be one of the first ones to use three different waves of the Community Innovation Survey (CIS), specifically CIS3 covering 1998‐2000, CIS4 (2002‐2004) and CIS2006 (2004‐2006). Thereby the authors are able to study the impact of the changing economic environment on the link between FDI and innovativeness.

Delft blues: the long road from university town to knowledge city

Besides their teaching and research tasks, universities are increasingly expected to valorise knowledge into innovation. This involves new products, but also transdisciplinary knowledge exchange with people, technologies, firms and markets. This relates to knowledge-based urban development through a variety of locally-specific variables and features. This paper discusses the role of knowledge capacity in the development of the Dutch City of Delft. It emphasises the role of Delft University of Technology as a main player of Delft’s knowledge capacity, the qualities of the local production and consumption milieus and the role of local knowledge city policy. It explores the role and impact of knowledge capacity in urban development in a setting with mixed advantageous and disadvantageous qualities. The results suggest that the reason for the disappointing employment creation in Delft may be found particularly in the triple helix cooperation between government, knowledge institutions and industry.

Triple Helix in the periphery: the case of Multipolis in Northern Finland

Peripheral areas are rarely considered as having an active role within the field of high technology. This article studies the public sector initiative Multipolis, which fosters high-technology development based on the Triple Helix co-operation in the peripheral Northern Finland. The article analyses how high-technology enterprises in Northern Finland collaborate with higher education and research institutes to achieve product innovations, and how Multipolis is managed as an innovation network. The research material comprises regional and innovation policy documents and statistics, a survey among high-technology enterprises, Multipolis project reports and thematic interviews. The Multipolis network generally follows national innovation and regional policies. The simultaneous implementation of these policies is, however, challenging.

Narrating the Triple Helix concept in "weak" regions: lessons from Sweden

This paper critically examines the positive narrative surrounding the Triple Helix concept as a model for development in all kinds of regions. We claim that existing and problematic structural preconditions should be taken into consideration when applying the Triple Helix concept in weak regions. Empirically, we base our paper on two longitudinal case studies in Sweden, where government are trying to break the negative trends in weak regions by initiating Triple Helix-like programs. However, due to poor preconditions, such initiatives tend to fail. Thus, a negative narrative can be related about Triple Helix cooperation when applied in weak regions.