This workshop will focus on the role of location specific innovation strategies and engagement between regional Triple Helix constellations of university-industry-government (U-I-G) partnerships, driving economic growth within regional boundaries. Speakers and participants will compare impact cases of smart specialization across the European regional landscape, and examples of location-driven initiatives worldwide.
Speakers will engage in discussions on the: Mechanisms for Multistakeholder engagement; Pathways to collaborative strategic planning; Barriers to regional development and innovation; Place-based strategies for sustainable development; Regional Dimensions of Knowledge Exchange and the Role of Universities; Regional Innovation Policies and the Role of Intermediaries. The workshop will seek to identify in which ways a genuine Triple Helix approach can reinforce efficient delivery of successful Smart Specialisation Strategies.
David J Hardman MBE: Honorary Chairman of UKSPA, MD Innovation Birmingham
David’s career over the last 25 years has been in knowledge transfer; creating infrastructures to promote translation of new ideas and concepts into commercial reality. After 10 years at the Babraham Institute leading the early commercial aspects of the development of the Babraham Research Campus, he moved to Birmingham in 2008 to develop a new strategy to deliver what has become the Innovation Birmingham Campus.
Prof Dr Jorge Luis Nicolas Audy: Professor at the School of Computer Science and Superintendent for Innovation and Development at PUCRS (Pontifical Catolic University, Brazil).
Prof Audy has experience in Management of Science, Technology & Innovation and in Innovation Ecosystems (Science and Technology Parks). He is currently Coordinator of PNPG National Committee and National Research Agenda (MEC / CAPES - Ministry of Education), Member of the Deliberative Council of CNPq (MCTI), member of the Superior Council of FAPERGS, the Deliberative Council of CGEE (Center for Management and Strategic Studies of the MCTI). Member of SBC - Brazilian Computer Society, SBPC, AIS - Association for Information Systems, PMI IEEE and ACM.
Paul Krutko: Ann Arbor SPARK’s president and CEO President, International Assoc. Science Parks / Areas of Innovation
Ann Arbor SPARK is a public-private partnership of business, government and academic institutions working to create economic prosperity in the Ann Arbor area of innovation. In his role as CEO, he leads the organization’s efforts to expand the regional economy through initiatives to support entrepreneurs and early-stage companies accelerating their growth to full potential.
Andrew Basu-McGowan: policy lead for innovation and place at the National Centre for Universities and Business (UNCB)
Formerly head of policy for the UK’s Smart Specialisation Hub, he has worked on key national and European policy agendas for over 10 years, primarily in the UK government. He has extensive experience in research and innovation, science policy, catalysing university participation in economic growth at national and local level, SME funding, finance and networking opportunities, European and international research partnerships including at the European Commission, and in Ministerial private office.
Dr Dimitri Corpakis: former senior European Commission official specialising in innovation, growth and technological change
An engineer and planner by training, he was recently appointed as Senior Research Fellow with the South East European Research Centre (part of the University of Sheffield). He is also a member of the Graduate Faculty of the School of the Environment (A&M University of Florida, FAMU) and a full member of the Club of Rome (EU Chapter, CoR EU). His experience spans in many policy areas including Education and Training, Information and Communication Technologies, Social Sciences and Humanities, and Regional Innovation Ecosystems.
Prof Nicos Komninos: Professor emeritus at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, founder of URENIO Research, and currently CEO of Intelspace Technologies
His research expertise is in two interrelated areas (1) innovation systems and strategies (innovation and digital transformation; cyber-physical systems of innovation; data intelligence and co-creation; innovation over platforms; innovation strategies for smart specialisation) and (2) intelligent / smart cities (formation and evolution of smart ecosystems; ontologies and knowledge functions; planning, strategy, design and development of software applications).
Jan Larosse: Former policy adviser of the Flemish Government for innovation and industrial policies
Jan Larosse graduated in economics and philosophy at the University of Leuven. He worked for 25 years in the innovation policy of the Flanders Region. He was a long-time member of the OECD Working Party on Technology and Innovation Policy and national expert in DG Research and DG Regio of the European Commission. In these capacities he was also engaged in the development of smart specialisation policy frameworks and implementation. He is co-founder of the ‘Vanguard Initiative for New Growth through Smart Specialisation’ and of the ‘Friends of Smart Specialisation’.
Dr Federica Rossi: Senior Lecturer in Business Economics at Birkbeck, University of London
Dr Federica Rossi's research interests are in the fields of science and technology policy, economics and management of intellectual property rights, innovation activities of firms and networks of firms, economics and governance of higher education. She has contributed to numerous research projects sponsored by, among others, OECD, UK Intellectual Property Office, World Intellectual Property Organization, Eurostat, British Academy/Leverhulme, Society for Research in Higher Education, British Academy of Management. She has authored numerous articles in highly ranked peer-reviewed journals including Research Policy, Industrial and Corporate Change, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Studies in Higher Education, International Small Business Journal, Journal of Business Research. She has also published two books and contributed to numerous edited volumes.
Dr Yuzhuo Cai: Senior Lecturer and Adjunct Professor at the Higher Education Group (HEG), Faculty of Management, University of Tampere, Finland
Dr Yuzhuo Cai has been with the HEG for 16 years and was the Acting Professor of the unit from August 2013 to July 2014. He is serving as guest professor at both the Institute of International and Comparative Education, Beijing Normal University, and the Institute of China’s Science, Technology and Education Policy (ICSTEP), Zhejiang University in China. He is an member of the Executive Committee of the Triple Helix Association. He is also an associate editor of the Triple Helix Journal. His main teaching and research areas are innovation studies, higher education policy and management, internationalisation of higher education, with around 80 peer reviewed publications in these fields.
Dr Phil Tomlinson: Deputy Director of the Centre for Governance, Regulation & Industrial Strategy in the School of Management at the University of Bath
Dr Phil Tomlinson is also a member of the Manufacturing Commission for the UK All Party Parliamentary Manufacturing Group’s Inquiry on Local Industrial Strategies. He recently led a Regional Studies Association Policy Expo exploring Smart Specialisation and Industry 4.0 in lagging regions. He has published widely with on place based industrial strategies, regional development and economic governance with over 50 research articles in these fields. He is also currently a Co-Investigator on a £1.5 million European Regional Development Fund grant to establish two business acceleration hubs in the South West of England.
Prof Slavo Radosevic: Professor of Innovation Studies at UCL
Prof Slavo Radosevic has worked at University of Sussex SPRU and before moving to the UK in 1993 as researcher in Croatia and as federal-undersecretary in the former SFR Yugoslavia. His research is in the area of S&T, entrepreneurship, industrial change, and innovation policy in Europe and with special reference to central and eastern Europe (CEE). He has published extensively in international journals in these areas and has edited several volumes on these issues. He is co-editor of Advances in theory and practice of Smart Specialisation, Elsevier Publishers, 2018. He has been engaged in quite a number of empirically oriented and policy relevant research projects funded by the EU. He acts as an expert for the various DGs of the EC, OECD, UNESCO, UNIDO, World Bank, and UNECE. He is a special advisor to the EC DG Commissioner for Regional and Urban Policy.
Prof Emanuela Todeva: Professor of International Business Strategy and Innovation at St Mary’s University
Prof Emanuela Todeva is the elected Vice President of the Triple Helix Association, Co-convener of the research group on Innovation Policy Implementation Nexus (INNOPIN), Director of the research centre on Business Clusters, Networks and Economic Development (BCNED). She is also a Senior Consultant to the European Commission on evaluation of National Innovation Systems, Smart Specialisation policies and Mapping of Global Value Chains. Her expertise includes: Triple Helix governance and intermediation; Triple Helix policy implementation through stakeholder practice; Business models for open innovation and industry/ market development; Triple Helix engagement, co-alignment and co-creation; Orchestration and eco-systems design.
Will Lord: Senior Policy Advisor in the Cities and Local Growth Unit, a joint team between BEIS and MHCLG
Will Lord leads on local innovation policy and working with places on the innovation and business growth aspects of their Local Industrial Strategies. Before joining the civil service, he worked at the Institute for Government and Sense About Science.
Dr Muthu De Silva: Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Birkbeck, University of London
Dr Muthu De Silva's research investigates strategies and practices adopted, opportunities pursued, and organizational forms designed in relation to co-creation, intermediation and university-business interactions. She has published in Research Policy, Journal of Organizational Behaviour, International Small Business Journal, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, R&D Management Journal and Studies in Higher Education and received best paper awards in Innovation by the BAM Conference in 2015 and 2016. She has secured major grants from Innovate UK, Intellectual Property Office, EU and British Academy/Leverhulme, and British Academy of Management. She is a fellow of Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.
Dr Felicia Fai: Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in International Business & Innovation.
Dr Felicia Fai's research interests originated in the evolution of technological competences and their role in corporate longevity but now considers the evolution of capabilities at the regional and industrial level. She is editor of ‘Place Based Industrial Strategy’ , a policy brief for the Institute of Policy Research, University of Bath. She was a member of a Regional Studies Association Policy Expo research team exploring Smart Specialisation and Industry 4.0 in lagging EU regions and is a co-Investigator on a £1.5 million European Regional Development Fund grant to establish two business acceleration hubs in the South West of England. Through the Cabinet Office's Launchpad initiative, Felicia served as an academic adviser to central UK government about the role of universities in regional growth and is currently a member of the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Industrial Strategy Independent Review Panel.
Suzy Rigby: UKRI INNOVATEUK, Relationship Manager Health Catapults
Suzy has spent the last 29 years working in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry. After gaining a Degree in Chemistry and a PhD in Electro-organic chemistry she was recruited by Fisons in 1989 into the newly established Bioanalytical Department. Over the next 18 years she worked for Fisons, Astra and Astra Zeneca firstly within Bioanalysis moving from there to pre-clinical drug metabolism working on new projects moving from Discovery and into Development. During this time she set up a clinical Biomarkers function developing bioanalytical methods for disease biomarkers which could be used for decision making within clinical trials. On leaving Astra Zeneca Suzy worked for several years as a consultant to CROs and small and large Pharma advising on organisational effectiveness in scientific departments. During this time she also set up a company which provided experienced locum scientists to start-ups. Following a 18 month period at University of Derby Suzy began working for Innovate UK in April 2018 as a Relationship Manager for the Health Catapults namely Medicines Discovery catapult and the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult.
Professor Birgitte Andersen (PhD Economics): CEO of Big Innovation Centre
Big Innovation Centre is a London-based think-tank and innovation hub that promotes open innovation and develop best-practice prototypes via challenge-led taskforces, innovation-ecosystem analytics, and All Party groups in the UK Parliament on Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain. Since 2011, she has rapidly - through a strong vision – directed and grown the Big Innovation Centre to become a building block in the innovation landscape in the UK and European Union. During the internet boom, Birgitte launched and ran (2000-2010) probably UK’s biggest interdisciplinary postgraduate programmes on E-Commerce at University of London (Birkbeck), where she holds the title Professor of Economics and Management of Innovation. She advises economists and policy makers of national governments in and beyond Europe including OECD, UN and WIPO, and serves as an expert defence witness in the UK courts on matters of IP use on the Internet. Birgitte was recently appointed on Arab League Expert Group on Digital Transformation regarding the Digital Government Strategy for the Arab World.
Rosa Wilkinson: Formerly Director of Stakeholder Engagement at the Department for International Trade
Rosa joined the High Value Manufacturing Catapult in September 2017 as Director of Communications. Previous roles have included Director of Innovation and Strategic Communication at the Intellectual Property Office and as Director of Public Policy for Lloyds TSB. Her earlier career includes a variety of Whitehall policy roles including as Managing Director of the Government’s Small Business Service and Director of Manufacturing at the then Department for Trade and Industry. Outside the Catapult, Rosa retains an involvement in her family’s industrial property business and is a non-executive with the MTA.
Dr Catarina Fernandes: Academic Engagement Manager, Digital Catapult, UK
In her capacity as Academic Engagement Manager, Catarina is responsible for managing and creating new relationships with UK academic partners. She manages several programmes such as Researchers in Residence and Placements, all of which form part of the Digital Catapult strategy designed to create links between Academia and Industry. Catarina has a PhD in Cosmochemistry and has previously worked at several universities in roles such as Senior Teaching Fellow, Chair of Equality and Inclusion Committee, outreach programmes development, and researcher skills development. She also started her own technical consultancy business that gave her the additional experience required to experience allow her to bridge the gap between academia, and the startup and scaleup community.