From ivory Tower to living lab? Unlocking university knowledge in the regional economy

The valorization of knowledge created at universities is recognised as the third mission of many universities in the developed world today. For this reason researchers and policy makers have started to give much attention to performance of universities in terms of patent applications, licenses, research joint ventures and alliances, and the formation of spin-off firms. In contrast, knowledge valorization starting from research projects has received small attention to date, causing a lack of knowledge on determining factors of success and failure of such projects. The current paper is an attempt to fill this gap by picturing the trajectory of university research projects in terms of success, delay and failure in market introduction, and by identifying major obstacles. The country taken as an example is The Netherlands. A difference is made between university cities in the western metropolitan area (Randstad) and those in other regions in the country. A causal model of knowledge valorization is explored by distinguishing between the following factors: (1) internal factors referring to characteristics of the invention, the project and the organizational context at university, (2) interaction factors concerning the relation between university researchers and firms, (3) external factors typical for the region, and (4) external factors typical for the country (national system). The study draws on a database of almost 370 research projects and in-depth data of approximately 35 projects. The results indicate that failure (closure of projects without market introduction) is faced by a minority of projects (around 30%) whereas success in terms of market introduction is also faced by a minority of projects (22% among older projects and 15% among younger ones). Overall, the main hampering factors in valorisation turn out to reside in the organizational context at university and in university-industry interaction. Shortcomings in the region today mainly refer to financial incentives and to lack of ‘critical mass’ in the business ecosystem. In order to make knowledge valorization more successful and accelerate speed of the processes involved, many universities and local/regional government today step into network constructions like ‘living labs’ aimed at ‘open innovation’. The paper critically evaluates the new concepts in terms of responding to hampering factors in valorization.Innovation SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen