Co-evolution in Constructing Regional Advantage: Exploring the Multiple Roles of Lund University in

Strengthening the Scania Regional Innovation System

Björn Asheim, Paul Benneworth, Lars Coenen, Jerker Moodysson CIRCLE: Centre for Innovation, Research and Competence in the Learning Economy, Lund University Sweden

Department of Social and Economic Geography, Lund University, SwedenCURDS: Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies, University of Newcastle, UK

From comparative to constructed advantage

• Comparative advantage: criticized for dismissing the role of technological change and innovation

• Competitive advantage: too narrowly institutional oriented by focusing on the creation of endogenous capacity of regions to learn and innovate by an interaction of markets and networks

• Constructed advantage: acknowledges more the important interplay between industrial dynamics (knowledge bases) and organisational dynamics as well as private-public complementarities in policy making by a stronger focus on actors, agencies and governance forms in a multi-level perspective.

Platform Policy

• The dilemma of regional innovation: from imitation to innovative adaptation

• Industrial renewal takes place in-between and beyond existing sectors – need for transcending traditional sector policies

• Innovation through combining existing knowledge, technologies and competencies with new generic technologies (IT, biotech)

• How to shape conditions for cross-fertilization?

Platform Policy II

• Related variety – creating spillover effects - Related variety: related sectors in terms of shared or

complementary knowledge bases and competences

- specialisation of localisation economies + diversity of urbanisation economies

• Differentiated knowledge bases- analytial <> synthetic <> symbolic

• Distributed knowledge networks

- from internal knowledge within firms to distributed knowledge networks of firms across a range of technologies, industries and sectors in global value chains

Sector characteristics and universities institutional learning: differentiated knowledge bases (Asheim and Gertler, 2005)

Synthetic Analytical

Innovation by application or novel combination of existing knowledge

Innovation by creation of new knowledge

Importance of applied, problem related knowledge (engineering) often through inductive processes

Importance of scientific knowledge often based on deductive processes and formal models

Interactive learning with clients and suppliers Research collaboration between firms (R&D department) and research organisations

Dominance of tacit knowledge due to more concrete know-how, craft and practical skill

Dominance of codified knowledge due to documentation in patents and publications

Communities of practice Epistemic communities

Platform policies – Japan’s new cluster policy:

Ex: Strengthening policies for advanced component/materials industries

Regional Innovation Systems (RIS)?

In Constructing Regional Advantage RIS is still important:

A RIS is constituted by two sub-systems and the systemic interaction between them (and with non-local actors and agencies):

• The knowledge generation and diffusing sub-system (universities, technical colleges, R&D institutes, technology transfer agencies, business associations and finance institutions)

• The knowledge exploitation sub-system (firms in regional clusters as well as their support industries (customers and suppliers))

Regional Innovation Systems

Knowledge Generation Subsystem (universities, research institutes, technology transfer offices, etc)

Knowledge Exploitation Subsystem (business, possibly cluster)

Intra-RIS Knowledge exchange / Interactive LearningExtra-RIS

Knowledge exchange / Interactive Learning(e.g. scientific communities, (inter)national research collaboration

Extra-RIS Knowledge exchange / Interactive Learning(e.g. global value chains, transnational corporation)

Governance

Policy Institutions

RIS

Regional Innovation Policy

Support: Financial and technical

Behavioural change: Learning to innovate

Firm-focused Financial support

Brokers

Mobility schemes

System-focused Technology centres Regional innovation systems

Emerging trends

Universities are increasingly seen as important actors for regional development in the knowledge economy

• Constructing regional advantage– Actively upgrading and building regional innovation

systems has become important objectives in regional development

• University’s third mission– As active contributors to regional innovative

capacity by being actors in the knowledge generation subsystem of RIS

The role of universities in RIS

Third mission (after teaching and research): direct interaction between universities and society– Creating high-tech firms– Consulting for local industry– Delivering advice for politicians– Informing general public debates

Knowledge economy discourse prevails• Generative role: discrete outputs in response to

specific demands• Developmental outputs: development of regional

institutional capacities (Gunesekara, 2006)

Objective and reserach question

To analyze and compare three mechanisms through which Lund University has contributed to Scanias RIS– IDEON Science Park– Life Science Cluster Medicon Valley– VINNVÄXT support for the food sector ’Innovation i

Gränsland’ (Food Innovation at Interfaces)

How do different organizations and institutions in the RIS co-evolve over time when the university is faced with competing sectoral demands for regional engagement?

Scania

LU involvement in the region’s industries

Sector Knowledge base Governance Structure

Technology Status

ICT Synthetic/

analytical, creating spin-offs and upgrading existing firms

Well developed with wide range of supportive/

dedicated BSOs

Mature high technology

Life science Analytical: creating new growth businesses in novel market areas

Aspirational, attempting to learn from existing structures

Disruptive technology

Food Synthetic: upgrading an old industry, shifting its value composition

’Old boys network’, very traditional, potentially locked in

Mature technology

ICT-From Ideon to a Regional Innovation System

• Ericsson (now Sony Ericsson) funded 20 staff in the early 1980s.

• IDEON, the first Science Park in Scandinavia, established 1983. LU was at this time foremost a supplier of human capital.

• Main challenge: avoid lock in to the former industrial configuration, promote a dynamic ICT cluster.

• IDEON proved to be an important point of stability around which new ICT activities could emerge. LU deepened its engagement in regional policy.

• IDEON was an arena for concrete activity in which various regional partners where co-operating → an institutional opening up process → a more flexible RIS

Life Science – From Local Integration to Global Visibility

• Long history of pharma and medtech in the region (Astra, Pharmacia, Gambro etc).

• Strong growth of biotech firms (DBFs) since early 1990s (today ~ 35 DBFs). Successful academic life science research. High quality health care.

• Medicon Valley Academy established in the mid 1990s as an initiative by Lund and Copenhagen Universities to promote knowledge transfer between companies, universities and health care organisatoins in the region.

• Early enthusiasm has decreased. Global collaboration proved indispensable. MVA strategy was revised. Less focus on local integration, more on global visibility (e.g. attract VC and research funds, link up with other CoE etc).

• Other LU initiatives with similar rationale: BMC, Stem Cell Centre, Swegene, SCIBLU

Food – From Process Streamlining to Innovation at Interfaces

• Scania represents 45% of Sweden’s total food production but increasingly outsourced

• VINNVÄXT funding to stimulate a transition from price competition and economies of scale to quality competition and economies of scope

• Increase the added value and upgrade the innovative capacity by targeting new market opportunities

• A central role for Scania Food Innovation Network, a public-private cooperation in which LU is a leading member

Food – From Process Streamlining to Innovation at Interfaces

Food Innovation at Interfaces seeks to realise the potential of a latent innovation network between university and food industry

Broad and interdisciplinary approach• Food and Health – Functional Food• Convenience foods and logistics• Marketing of Advanced food products• IDEON Agro food: technology transfer directly related

to the food industry

Conclusions

• Deepened contribution: from provider of human capital to an orchestrator of regional innovation support

• Widening involvement: through its national and international networks the university has extended the innovation network of regional actors

• Integrating various sectors: innovativeness and competitiveness generated by related variety in the regional economy with the university as a core

Increased activity-level and overlap between different innovation activities > merging organizational units within the university (CoE)

Multiple impacts of university engagement on restructuring and strengthening the RIS

‘Global’‘Regional’

University

Local knowledge exploiters

Resource flows

3. Unifying

2. Widening

1. Deepening

Scania RIS