Triple Helix Relations Research Articles

Business associations and their contribution to knowledge networks in Mexico

Mexican businesses are organized in a highly complex system, comprising an enormous variety of associations that group individual firms according to sectors and geographical lines of division. These associations may constitute an efficient means of support for the construction of knowledge networks benefiting their members. We analyze academicindustry relationship in which business associations (BAs) of different types participate in order to explore the connection between different institutional settings and knowledge network development. We argue that the structure of BAs is a key factor in their ability to sustain networking. It is, therefore, possible to speak of structural advantages or disadvantages as regards the building of triple helix relations.

Balancing old and new organisational forms: changing dynamics of government, industry and university interaction in South Africa

The paper considers changing triple helix relations in the South African context after 1994. The organisational form of university–industry partnership, stimulated by government incentives, is emerging. However, old and new organisational forms, shaped by a tension between financial and intellectual imperatives, co-exist in the shifting relationship between university, industry and government. The capacity to harness the potential of research for innovation by creating new institutional interface structures is evident on a significant scale in a small number of universities, and in isolated pockets in others. Old forms tend to prevail, and may have counter-productive implications. Creating new forms of knowledge-intensive networks requires analysis of the complex inter-dependence between firms, universities and government intermediaries. The paper considers implications for universities, arguing for a strategic balance of old and new forms of partnership across more institutions, taking into account the diversity of university contexts, knowledge fields, industrial sectors and technology platforms.

Measuring the knowledge base of an economy in terms of triple-helix relations among ‘technology, organization, and territory’

Can the knowledge base of an economy be measured? In this study, we combine the perspective of regional economics on the interrelationships among technology, organization, and territory with the triple-helix model, and offer the mutual information in three dimensions as an indicator of the configuration. When this probabilistic entropy is negative, the configuration reduces the uncertainty that prevails at the systems level. Data about more than a million Dutch companies are used for testing the indicator. The data contain postal codes (geography), sector codes (proxy for technology), and firm sizes in terms of number of employees (proxy for organization). The configurations are mapped at three levels: national (NUTS-1), provincial (NUTS-2), and regional (NUTS-3). The levels are cross-tabled with the knowledge-intensive sectors and services. The results suggest that medium-tech sectors contribute to the knowledge base of an economy more than high-tech ones. Knowledge-intensive services have an uncoupling effect, but less so at the high-tech end of these services.

The mutual information of university-industry-government relations: An indicator of the Triple Helix dynamics

University-industry-government relations provide a networked infrastructure for knowledge-based innovation systems. This infrastructure organizes the dynamic fluxes locally and the knowledge base remains emergent given these conditions. Whereas the relations between the institutions can be measured as variables, the interacting fluxes generate a probabilistic entropy. The mutual information among the three institutional dimensions provides us with an indicator of this entropy. When this indicator is negative, self-organization can be expected. The self-organizing dynamic may temporarily be stabilized in the overlay of communications among the carrying agencies. The various dynamics of Triple Helix relations at the global and national levels, in different databases, and in different regions of the world, are distinguished by applying this indicator to scientometric and webometric data.

Triple Helix Relationships in a National Context

This paper uses a study of the factors affecting the location of research in the biomedical industry in Australia to show the complexity of the relationships among the Triple Helix strands – government, industry and universities – in determining research location. Central players, hospitals, are major locations for research but are highly regulated, as is all the medical industry, and depend much on broad public policy determinations about funding which are not directed at research. Changes to the regulatory environment affect research choices players make while technological advance alters the field on which both researchers and firms play.

The Number of Members as Determining the Sociological Form of the Group. I

The Number of Members as Determining the Sociological Form of the Group. I