Markku Markkula: Collaborations create value and scientists, industry and politicians have to work together to tackle complex issues.
© EU Regions Week 2017 #EURegionsWeek Belgium - Brussels - October 2017 © EU/UE
John Edwards: Universities can have the greatest impact in their regions by engaging with partners as part of their core activities of research and teaching, not as a separate and optional extra.
Cristiano Cagnin: Ultimately a sub-system of Research and Education within the Innovation Ecosystem is key to leverage a structural transformation by building synergies and interactions amongst actors, thus enabling regional innovation systems to become challenge- or mission-driven.
© EU Regions Week 2017 #EURegionsWeek Belgium - Brussels - October 2017 © EU/UE
Koen Jonkers: The contribution of universities to innovation in many regions is below their perceived potential. Pascal Lamy et al called, in their App-Lab-Fab report, for measures to incentivise universities to contribute more to innovation and in exchange consider the provision of EU level institutional support
© EU Regions Week 2017 #EURegionsWeek Belgium - Brussels - October 2017 © EU/UE
Lidia Borrell-Damian: There are several key roles for universities when implementing Smart Specialisation Strategies. These include: coordination of research and innovation programmes, expert input into RIS3 priorities, alignment of research and innovation activities between the regional, national and EU level, coordination of stakeholder relations.
© EU Regions Week 2017 #EURegionsWeek Belgium - Brussels - October 2017 © EU/UE
Rahul Bansal: Climate-KIC brings together the best of Europe’s business, research, education and policy organisations to address the systemic global challenge of climate change, creating a pool of invaluable human capital. Collaboration has also created pan-European partnerships, multiplying the impact of each organisation’s local innovation clusters.
© EU Regions Week 2017 #EURegionsWeek Belgium - Brussels - October 2017 © EU/UE
© EU Regions Week 2017 #EURegionsWeek Belgium - Brussels - October 2017 © EU/UE
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The workshop gave rise to some fruitful discussions and interactions between the audience and the speakers. We have tried to summarise the main points that emerged below:
• Ideas come from students, but universities can guide them and provide the framework.
• Universities should be seen as actors of change and developers of human capital.
• Universities should also engage practitioners, training should not only be provided by the academics but by entrepreneurs too.
• It is important that universities participate in the planning of the Smart Specialisation Strategies.
• It is important to build networks that work together for long periods rather than projects only.
• Innovation in higher education: how can we measure output and impact? Certainly not with a one-size-fits-all assessment.
• In the assessment of the innovation performance of the universities, we need to go beyond regional collaborations and recognise how universities contribute to regional potential by acting as a hub in international R& D networks.
• Some important aspects for Smart Specialisation Strategies regarding universities have emerged:
1. Political support is needed, not only money.
2. More synergies could be created.
3. Human Talent is crucial.
4. Education, research, innovation = an interdependent system.
• Each Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) is a network of networks as it links universities from different regions in Europe, which already have their own network.
Take away message
The workshop discussed the incentives for universities to contribute to innovation and regional development, and the bottlenecks preventing them from doing so. The issues are complex and range from the role of universities in developing human capital, taking part in the reflection on research and innovation priorities, to the legal aspects and framework and funding arrangements. Universities need incentives to innovate. Their impact on innovation can be improved through guidance, based on assessment.