SPIRAL is a newly launched service of the Triple Helix Association, transformed from the earlier Triple Helix Working Papers .
SPIRAL is a new and innovative approach to the sharing of research ideas, preliminary findings, and establishing collaborations and contacts within the Triple Helix community. In developing SPIRAL we have responded to several issues we see in the current set-up with regards publication in academia. Firstly, the publication process can be long and bureaucratic, with papers finally emerging often years after the research has been conducted: SPIRAL publishes work in preliminary or potential stages, quickly, and with little administrative burden on authors and reviewers. It is a fast-moving forum focusing on new ideas rather than publishing established and polished work.
Secondly, and relatedly, there is often little opportunity to present new ideas, receive feedback and find collaborators from around the world: SPIRAL aims to be a platform where researchers and practitioners can reach out to the Triple Helix community with new ideas or interesting case studies and find people to collaborate with.
Thirdly, especially in the early career stages, it can be difficult to find support and mentorship to help us develop our ideas and refine our research questions: through using an innovative discussion and response format, SPIRAL matches up researchers and practitioners at different stages in their careers to give feedback and help push forward each others’ ideas through the publication of a new idea or question, and a response, with an open discussion (via reader’s comments) underneath each piece to “crowdsource” ideas from the community.
Through these three novel approaches- fast and open platform, focus on new ideas or potential research projects, and discussion format of the pieces – we aim to provide something different, and useful to the community beyond what traditional publishing routes are providing already. As co-chairs of this new initiative, we ask you: Why not share your good research ideas, which might otherwise be stored as drafts or notes in your PC for ages, and invite others who are interested in your proposal to further develop them or join you to collectively carry out corresponding research?
This is the main motivation driving us to initiate the SPIRAL—a new form of publication of Triple Helix Association—an open innovation platform for exchanging and growing research ideas, as well as expanding research collaboration. Thematically, we will focus on the issues in the context of Triple Helix interactions between university, industry and government, and also with engagement of citizens. The first article of SPIRAL is a demonstration how the idea sharing could be possible formulated and disseminated in the platform of SPIRAL. We encourage those interested in publishing their ideas, or in acting as a discussant or mentor to get in touch with Dr. Yuzhuo Cai (*email address protected*) or Dr. Rhiannon Pugh (*email address protected*), the SPIRAL co-chairs.
Submitted SPIRALS
SPIRAL editorial guidelines:
A SPIRAL paper should be between 1000-2000 words on topics related to innovation studies and Triple Helix, including the following elements.
- Title
- Identification of research problem
- Motivation
- Research gap (based on literature)
- Research purpose/aim
- One focused research question (addressing the research gap)
- Possible sub-questions
- Planned conceptual/analytical framework
- Possible research method and data collection
- Expectation for potential collaborators (Optional)
Spiral Chair
Adjunct Prof. Yuzhuo Cai, FINLAND
Yuzhuo Cai is a senior lecturer and adjunct professor at the Higher Education Group (HEG), School of Management, University of Tampere, Finland, and was the acting professor of HEG during August 2013-July 2014. He is currently a guest professor at the Institute of International and Comparative Education, Beijing Normal University, China. His main teaching and research areas are organisation theory, higher education administration, transformation of universities in innovation systems, and internationalisation of higher education, with extensive publications in the fields.
Spiral Co-Chair
Dr. Rhiannon Pugh, FINLAND
Rhiannon Pugh is a research fellow in economic geography at the Department of Social and Economic Geography at Uppsala University, Sweden. Previously she worked at Lancaster University and the University of Wales in the UK, and completed her PhD at Cardiff University School of Planning and Geography. Her research focused on the governance of regional economic development, such as innovation and economic development policy, and the role of universities as regional drivers. Her PhD examined twenty years of innovation policy in Wales and reflected on the applicability of key theories of regional innovation in a weaker region setting. She is especially interested in “less-favored” regions such as the post-industrial, weaker, and peripheral.
Spiral Mentors
Dr Christiane Gebhardt, GERMANY
Dr. Gebhardt has been a Member and Strategic Advisor of the Triple Helix Association since 1992, and the Associated Editor of the Triple Helix which is a Springeropen Journal of University-Industry-Government Innovation and Entrepreneurship. She holds the position of Vice President at the Malik Institute in Switzerland, an international organization renowned for industry, university and government studies as well as projects based on cybernetics and systems thinking. The focus of her research and work is governance, management of systems and the mastering of complexity. She is also an expert in innovation policy. Dr. Gebhardt earned her degrees at Constance University and Giessen University in Germany. She carried out research at Chicago University and the MIT in the United States of America. Dr. Gebhardt teaches innovation studies in a Master Lab at Heidelberg University.
Anastasia Yarygina, RUSSIA
Anastasia is the specialist in Open Innovation Strategies and Collaborations in Automotive Industry and an Expert in Brand Strategy Development.
For the last 5 years, she has been working in the automotive industry in South Korea. Her experience also covers several years in Venture consulting for innovative hi-tech companies.
She is passioned about new technologies, eco-friendly and smart solutions to accelerate the arrival of Future Mobility and Smart Lifestyle to everyday life. Anastasia’s mission is in connecting new hi-tech ideas with business reality and converting it into tangible outcomes.
Anastasia has MBA degree and graduated with honours as a Master of Science in Innovation Management.
She is an author of several publications and a book about the role of universities in innovation ecosystems.
Anastasia’s area of academic interest lies in following topics: open innovations; collaboration between universities, cities and corporates; collaborations with startups; automotive industry; future mobility; eco-friendly technologies; smart cities.