Helice-Issue 1

SPRING GREETINGS

Welcome to a special double issue of Hélice: the Triple Helix Association Magazine. We now present volume 2(4) 2013, and volume 3(1) of 2014.

This combined issue addresses the Triple Helix Framework in a context of global change, whether continuing, mutating, or unraveling, as it was presented and discussed at the Triple Helix 11th international conference on 8-10 July 2013 in London, UK.

The 2013 conference was organised by the Big Innovation Centre, Birkbeck, University of London and UCL Advances, and UCL University of London. It was held in historic Bloomsbury at Birkbeck, UCL, and Senate House, University of London. The conference organizers and hosts have earned special thanks.

The event integrated highly topical contributions from world-class academics and researchers, with business and policy forums to address the key question: ‘How can the Triple Helix approach build ‘the enterprising state’ in which universities, businesses, and governments co-innovate to solve global economic, social, and technological challenges?

The answer to this question, the context of the conference, as well as short introductions to the sub-themes and papers, are found in the conference summary by two of the organizers – Birgitte Andersen and Will Hutton from the Big Innovation Centre. Helen Lawrence, the Conference Manager, was a great host and has provided an overview of the social events and the technical visits. For the first time, evaluation forms were distributed to delegates, and the responses have been summarized and are included in this issue.

There were many interesting papers and discussions that became instrumental in the fulfillment of the purpose of the conference theme, as well as in the development of new research questions. For this combined special issue, we have compiled papers from various countries, representing the application and utilization of Triple Helix framework in pursing different theoretical and empirical questions. The variety of themes and cases show the interest in Triple Helix concept is still integral in innovation research all round the world among scholars, policy-makers, as well as practitioners. Featured papers include: The contribution of venture capital to innovation (Matteo Rossi); Technology-enabled innovation strategy – a practitioner’s approach (Antony Hurden, Dave Rimmer); Assessing the impact of university-industry collaborations: a multi-dimensional approach (Federica Rossi, Ainurul Rosli, Nick Yip, Ewelina Lacka; Unzip the Triple Helix application of regional Triple Helix in Japan (Kazuhiro Nozawa); Exploring the regional Triple Helix through design knowledge exchange (Kathryn Burns); Innovation ambidexterity: addressing gaps in theoretical and empirical interpretations (Olga Fernholz, Mathew Hughes, Robert Dingwall); Understanding university-government interaction from the perspective of academic researchers in the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (Sharmistha-Bagci Sen, Changho Lee, Jessie P H Poon)); Renewing the Triple Helix in a context of smart specialisation (Markku Markkula); Examing the use of peer review in the development of regional research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation. (Ruslan Rakhmatullin); and Triple Helix and the city (Christiane Gebhardt, Harald A Mieg).

We also include an interesting President’s Column; an invitation to the forthcoming Triple Helix conference in Tomsk in September 2014; a call for papers for the inaugural and special issues of the Triple Helix Journal; THA special events; details of new members; and THA news and announcements.

Articles for Hélice Magazine are always very welcome. They can be papers from Triple Helix conferences, other conferences and workshops, or from local presentations. Should you be interested in editing a special issue of Hélice as a guest editor(s), or organizing a Triple Helix event, we would also be delighted to hear from you. We can be contacted via email at: *email address protected*, or *email address protected*.

We wish you all a pleasant and warm spring!

Devrim Goktepe-Hulten (Editor in Chief)

Sheila Forbes (Managing Editor)

Triple Helix Scientific News

The Contribution of Venture Capital to Innovation Matteo Rossi
Innovation isn’t a new phenomenon, but over the last few years new concepts and models of innovation have arisen to complement and challenge existing past knowledge and notions.

Technology-enabled Innovation Strategy- a Practitioner’s Approach Antony Hurden, Dave Rimmer
The Triple Helix is a visual metaphor for an innovation ecosystem. It gives a representation of the potential interactions between government, academia, and industry, and implies an organic process that leads to innovation.
While it is true that these interactions are vital for a sustainable innovation ecosystem, in various ways, the reality is that the three strands are distinct, and the visual metaphor of a Triple Helix shows no clear interaction. As a metaphor, it does not describe how an innovation ecosystem operates, nor what is needed to make it sustainable.
This short paper presents a practitioner’s perspective drawn from the experience within an innovative incubation centre in North Wales, and the innovation cluster based around Cambridge, UK.

Assessing the Impact of University-Industry Collaborations: a Multi-Dimensional Approach Federica Rossi, Ainurul Rosli, Nick Yip, Ewelina Lacka
The growing importance of university-industry knowledge transfer has prompted government bodies at all levels to devise ways to support and encourage collaborations between universities and industry (UICs). These collaborations have been shown to be effective knowledge transfer channels and are particularly likely to generate long-term benefits for firms and various stakeholders. Funds are made available to support collaborative research projects, for example by the European Commission Framework Programmes, the Advanced Technology Programme in the United States, the Research Councils in the United Kingdom, government programmes in Germany and the Netherlands, and many others.

Unzip the Triple Helix Application of Regional Triple Helix in Japan Kazuhiro Nozawa
In Japan, as in other countries, the central government has deployed several university-industry joint research and development (R&D) promotion programmes since the 1990s. In concert with programmes initiated by the central government, local authorities have also promoted joint R&D between local universities and companies. Policy makers especially have considered academia–industry collaboration as the key element in regional innovation. Thus, to foster regional innovation, local authorities supported by the central government, make an effort to transfer advanced technology of local universities to local companies.

Exploring the Regional Triple Helix through Design Knowledge Exchange Kathryn Burns
In the United Kingdom, there have been many national and regional initiatives to develop the application of design in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Design-led manufacturing is seen as a primary means by which SMEs in traditional industries can combat the threat of low cost overseas labour and compete successfully in the global marketplace. Furthermore, substantial public funding has been available for initiatives that encourage building clusters and networks, as well as facilitating knowledge transfer between various support organisations, including higher education, and SMEs to increase their awareness and use of design

Renewing the Triple Helix in a Context of Smart Specialisation Markku Markkula
Europe has not been very fast in recovering from financial crises. This article elaborates on the following questions: Why is the Triple Helix one of the basic requirements in answering the grand societal challenges? What is the role of the respective parts of the Helix and, in particular, of the knowledge institutions? What new elements does the EU Smart Specialisation policy bring to renewing the Triple Helix concepts?

Innovation Ambidexterity: addressing Gaps in Theoretical and Empirical Interpretations Olga Fernholz, Mathew Hughes, Robert Dingwall
Given the fast-paced pervasive change induced by modern digital technologies managers of any technology-based firm (TBF) face the same crucial question: How to tap the value of today’s capabilities and prepare for tomorrow’s cutting edge innovations?

Examining the use of Peer Review in the Development of Regional Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation Ruslan Rakhmatullin
In 2011, the European Commission (EC) launched its Smart Specialisation Platform. This facility is there to help European regions and Member States to develop, implement, and review research and innovation strategies based on the principle ofsmart specialisation (S3). European regions are encouraged to identify their own R&I assets and strengths so that they can focus efforts on a limited number of justified priorities

Understanding University-Government Interaction from the Perspective of Academic Researchers in the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC) Sharmistha-Bagci Sen, Changho Lee, Jessie P H Poon
A major area of research across disciplines is technology and economic development. Every city, every state, and every country have experimented with or strive to capitalize from science– and technology-led economic development. Various theories have been offered over the years across the disciplines to explain the role of technology in development, that is, the role of science and technology in the evolution of economy and society (Bagchi-Sen and Lawton Smith 2012). More recently, the focus has been on innovation given the importance of life sciences in addressing one key area of development, that is, health and human development.

Triple Helix and the City Christiane Gebhardt, Harald A Mieg
The workshop addressed the relationship between Triple Helix relationships and the impact of these interactions on urban agglomerations. Empirical analysis of knowledge clusters (Leydesdorf and Ahrweiler 2013, Leydesdorf and Deakin 2014) shows that innovative regions and large metropolitan cities have a self-organized capacity to attract further investments and highly skilled competences to generate prolific variety and modularity for science-based developments and highly skilled employment.