The Impact of Higher Education on Regional Economies Research Initiative Universities and excluded communities Paper presented to “Regional economic impacts of Universities” Strathclyde University, Glasgow, 10 th October Paul Benneworth, Centre for Knowledge, Innovation Technology & Enterprise (KITE) Newcastle University

The Impact of Higher Education on Regional Economies Research Initiative About the project Centre for Knowledge, Innovation, Technology & Enterprise at Newcastle University September 2007 – August researchers, local “sounding board”, international steering group Universities engagement with excluded communities Focusing on North East, North West, Scotland

The Impact of Higher Education on Regional Economies Research Initiative Drivers of community engagement by universities Beyond the Widening Participation agenda … Changing nature of university/ society compact Universities as sources of knowledge capital for knowledge economy “Knowledge capital release” University knowledge cheaply benefiting excluded communities

The Impact of Higher Education on Regional Economies Research Initiative Commercialisation: inspiration or threat 2 decades of the commercialisation agenda Exploiting Science and Technology in universities (Knowledge Capital) for social benefit Vision of universities as a business  ‘privatisation of the knowledge commons’ Commercialisation receives third-strand funding from government in UK…

The Impact of Higher Education on Regional Economies Research Initiative The paradox of the engaged, entrepreneurial university The search for a vision for valourisation of humanities, arts, social sciences Commercialisation hinders engagement The paradox DEMOCRATIC university vs. ENTREPRENEURIAL university How can communities engage with these institutions?

The Impact of Higher Education on Regional Economies Research Initiative Barriers inhibiting universities to engage FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SKILLS BASE REGIONAL FIT TIME & ORIENTATION STUDENT IMPACTS

The Impact of Higher Education on Regional Economies Research Initiative How important is engagement to universities? LevelManifestation 0A few individuals actively promoting community engagement 1A university office developing an institutional engagement plan 2University core business processes maximise community engagement 3University forces other local partners to be better engaged

The Impact of Higher Education on Regional Economies Research Initiative Communities as a salient university stakeholder How can communities become more salient to universities? Community characteristics –Community coherence, boundary spanners Realigning expectations –Formal structures, project centred, language of engagement Overcoming unhelpful practices –Invisible barriers, engagement practices, external mediation

The Impact of Higher Education on Regional Economies Research Initiative Engagement between not with… ‘From Crossroads to CURAs’  from knowledge transfer to networked co-creation Lessons from the Canadian SSHRC Collaborative knowledge production ‘between’ Collaborating on ‘something’ – beyond happy families  The shared self-interest project

The Impact of Higher Education on Regional Economies Research Initiative Shared self interest as a driver of engagement Shared self interest at the heart of knowledge release Examples from technology transfer already well known Knowledge spillovers accessible to others Helps to create an economic advantage To understand how they collaborate, what are the kinds of things they collaborate on?

The Impact of Higher Education on Regional Economies Research Initiative The commercialisation model University Spinoff Knowledge about innovation Product innovation with IPR University/ business relationship Other firm Other product innovation Territorial knowledge pool Source: Benneworth & Charles (2005) after Muller & Zenker (2000)

The Impact of Higher Education on Regional Economies Research Initiative Universities benefiting from communities Core resources can be dependent or added to with engagement Communities are laboratories with exclusive local knowledges and skills Interesting community knowledges can cross- fertilise university expertise – ‘jigsaw effect’ Improving governance with better sense of community

The Impact of Higher Education on Regional Economies Research Initiative Communities benefiting from universities Universities directly providing services which otherwise sparse Universities helping communities to learn, improve, strengthen Universities supporting community groups to achieve their own goals Communities accessing knowledge resources to strengthen their own position

The Impact of Higher Education on Regional Economies Research Initiative Shared self-interest projects – lessons from commercialisation “Hybrid project”: the MESA+ nanotechnology laboratory, Twente, the Netherlands (outside study area!)

The Impact of Higher Education on Regional Economies Research Initiative Hybrid projects Critical mass Different activities using shared infrastructure Significant to all the users, anchoring key external actors locally to cross-fertilise Help to rebuild universities as hybrid project management vehicles –changing nature of university “A home which supports the life of a community which interact around a range of tangible activities of individual interest whilst sharing resources to allow individuals to achieve more than the sum of the parts”

The Impact of Higher Education on Regional Economies Research Initiative Community University Hybrid projects Central to core university missions – supporting teaching and research Meeting place for students, researchers, academics, community Facilities not available elsewhere Social spaces for informal, creative interaction Professional managers to run the scheme unselfconsciously

The Impact of Higher Education on Regional Economies Research Initiative Hybrid engagement projects: the reality Some difficult questions for the research… How will they creatively share/ combine knowledge? –‘Ensuring excellence and relevance’… How does the university share ‘infrastructure’? –What kinds of infrastructure? Community activity not spin-off tenants ($)? What kinds of business model/ management structures necessary to keep on track