1. jtj@hi.is http://www.hi.is/~jtj/
Universitet mellan kommersialisering of forskning og utbildning i världsklass – vilka är strategierna för fremtiden?
Nordiska ministerrådets workshop om nordisk politik för universitens fremtida roll
Köbenhavn 25 maj 2009
What does it take for a university management to implement new strategies? Are new tools and skills required?
Jón Torfi Jónasson
School of Education
University of Iceland

2. Clarification of the question, or choosing a perspective
Quite different perspectives
Industry
The government
The universities
The technology transfer issue
Each leads to very different discourses, emphasis and responses to the question posed.
The issue of perspectives is raised to contrast the somewhat egocentric university approach with other lines of thought.
24/02/2019
Jón Torfi Jónasson – Universitetens fremtid... Köbenhavn

3. The perspective of industry
What would industry prefer, for obtaining and harnessing innovative ideas?
What type of research and financial priorities would industry prefer?
What is the place of the universities and their research from industry's point of view?
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Jón Torfi Jónasson – Universitetens fremtid... Köbenhavn

4. The perspective of government
What are the major concerns of governments in the present context?
Economic growth
Economic competiveness
Making the contributions of locally funded research local?
What are the roles of
Start-up companies (e.g. Bart Clarysse),TTO’s, URP’s
Link, A. N., & Scott, J. T. (2007). The economics of university research parks.
Donald S. Siegel, Reinhilde Veugelers, Mike Wright. (2007). Technology transfer offices and commercialization of university intellectual property: performance and policy implications.
Or put differently, where is the place of the universities in all this? And on what basis are the choices made?
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Jón Torfi Jónasson – Universitetens fremtid... Köbenhavn

5. The perspective of industry, governments
A pragmatic plea for a long-term public space: the university should fulfil the need for public space for technological innovation.
Lester and Piore (2004) claim that, what they call the interpretative dimension of technological innovation, introduces a new slant to the argument for the universities and their research teaching function. They are convinced that interpretation ‘plays in the space of ambiguity’ (p. 53) where ‘novelty and originality lie’ (p. 54), and conclude that ‘interpretation needs to be protected from the pressures of competition … in a sheltered space’ (p. 176) which they claim is the public space provided by the universities. The necessity is particularly great from the long-term perspective. They argue that such public space is an absolute prerequisite for technological innovation, no less important than a competitive setting, which is also vital, but at later stages.
Lester, R. K. and M. J. Piore (2004). Innovation, the missing dimension. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press.
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Jón Torfi Jónasson – Universitetens fremtid... Köbenhavn

6. The perspective of universities
The enormously wide range and large number of universities
The complexity of universities
The large parts of the universities which are not being discussed
What are the central roles of universities and what are their peripheral roles?
How do we ensure that the balance is right?
Take again Lester and Piore’s point about the universities being a public domain being essential for innovative renewal;
Consider also the current debate about commercialization of US universities
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Jón Torfi Jónasson – Universitetens fremtid... Köbenhavn

7. The technology transfer issue
The culture of universities
The non-challenged view that most research becomes important, but only later; how solid is the evidence?
The need to make money
What is the evidence?
about what happens (and what not), and what pays, and what not
The research assessment exercises and their control of the culture
The importance of relating to the world outside
The mechanisms of this relationship
The entrepreneurial universities, Modes 1 and 2; Triple Helix
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Jón Torfi Jónasson – Universitetens fremtid... Köbenhavn

8. Jón Torfi Jónasson – Universitetens fremtid... Köbenhavn
Thank you
24/02/2019
Jón Torfi Jónasson – Universitetens fremtid... Köbenhavn