Seven samurai opening up the ivory tower

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Seven samurai opening up the ivory tower

• Presentation to the Regional Studies Association
  International Conference,
• Aalborg, Denmark, 28th-31st May 2005.
• Paul Benneworth David Charles (Newcastle
  University), Aard Groen (Twente University)

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Acknowledgements

• UK Economic and Social Research Council
• David Charles Aard Groen
• Newcastle University
• Arnoud Lagendijk Anne Lorenzen
• Work in progress, read more at
• www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/p.s.benneworth/test.htm

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Outline

• Less favoured regions in the knowledge economy
• University commercialisation as a key regional
  network builder
• Case study of Newcastle University Seven samurai
  opening up the ivory tower
• Placing LFRs in the knowledge economy

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The knowledge paradox of the new economy

• Uneven geography of the knowledge economy
• Transferring theories from totemic sites to
  ordinary regions?
• LFRs as passive recipients of roles?
• Lack of internal growth dynamism
• What is the place for peripheral regions in the
  new knowledge economy?

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Knowledge pools in the periphery

• Regional capacities for change
• New combinations, actor networks, renewal
• Creating sticky knowledges
• Building stronger regional innovation systems
  avoiding myopia lock-in
• Improving outward facing elements

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Filling the regional space
Source after Cooke (2005)
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Universities as key nodes

• Poor connectivity of peripheral regional systems
• Universities as weakly engaged
• Universities as key state lever for LFRs
• Set of functional arrangements for technology
  transfer
• Extending scope of universities
• ?Do these pressures lead to better regional
  innovation networks?

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University commercialisation

• Commercialisation as translational activity
• Building bridges with local partners to improve
  access to scarce resources
• Proximity paradox allowing local access, not
  undermining global research strength
• Network of practise cross-organisational group
  with shared/ extended culture
• Hierarchies, practises, routines, stories

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Research questions

• Do university commercialisation activities build
  up linkages with outside actors?
• Does this activity strengthen the regional
  systems and reconnect the knowledge generation
  and utilisation sub-systems?
• What does this tell us about the place of
  peripheral regions in the knowledge economy?

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Methodology

• Critical realist perspective on understanding
  economic development within wider
  political-economy
• Communities of practise approach in detailed
  regional case study
• Region with long history of regional engagement
  by university
• Set of key actor interviews (40, cross-sectoral)
• Semi-structured, exchange of resources
• Snowball from DVC (regional engagement)

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Newcastle and the North East of England

• University helping industrialisation (1870)
• Old industrial region -century of decline
• Erosion of regional innovation system
• 1980s regional mission
• 2004 regional targets

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Regional problem hub and spoke innovation
system
NB absence of collective/ shared knowledge assets
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Commercialisation since 1985

• Newcastle Technology Centre (1983-1988)
• They dont set out to do things badly
• NUVentures I (1989-1993)
• promoting entrepreneurship
• NUVentures II (1993-1999)
• generating license deals
• The new regional agenda (2000-2004)

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Key actors in the Community

• Senior managers (VC, DVC, RDO, BDO)
• Business Development Team dealmakers
• Academics the extended laboratory
• Transient university entrepreneurs
• Formal commercialisers (Stephenson Centre)
• External helpers
• Equity Committee, Court, Mentors

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From hierarchy to network

• Not simple bureaucratic system/ hierarchy
• Different people used as idea progresses
• Multiple, unpredictable roles
• VC suggests financiers
• Porosity of university boundaries
• Always external drivers market signals
• ? Use community of practise approach to model
  how university is bridging

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Key stories in Community

• Several stories with different perspectives
• Equity Committee help or hindrance?
• Academics entrepreneurial or greedy?
• Spin-offs symbiotic or separate?
• Three stories with common features
• Now I believe I told you about the story which,
  I believe, in the past, the university rolled
  over and gave some money even though it didnt
  need to. Did I tell you about that?
  Interviewer No, I dont think so If not you,
  then someone else.
• Useful to indicate participation in community

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Myth I Manchester Software Company

• University spin-out sued, university settled,
  university scared off from spin-outs
• Kept alive newest staff have own versions
• Then, I dont know what happened at Newcastle,
  but there was, I think, there was an issue with
  maybe some of the support for some of the
  spin-out activity, which was less than, umm,
  commercially tight, and I think, you know, the
  university got put off risk in a big way, umm
• Beyond the university spin-off managers and
  business angels

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Myth II Thor Middleware

• MSC university scared to share in TM
• University was risk-averse DANGER!
• Urban myth through re-telling
• I mean the classic one was the Computer Science
  one, umm, Im trying to think of the name of it,
  umm, that was in Bluetooth technology, , which
  was spun out and eventually sold, I think, to
  Hewlett Packard, for I think 38m, set up down
  the Quayside, at one point it had twenty, no,
  ninety people working for it, umm, and the
  university refused to invest in it, presumably
  (senior manager)
• Not taking a share in Arjuna cost the
  University tens of millions (Academic
  entrepreneur)

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Myth III BDMs as group apart

• BDMs recruited to change university culture
• tradable people with a high market value
• a critical resource for delivering the
  universitys regional agenda
• a fairly forceful set of characters
• free agents to work with whoever they want.
• BDMs hit wall of university culture
• And then of course what happened was we
  unearthed a whole can of worms, really, coz, you
  know, there was, there was people saying they
  hadnt seen anybody from technology transfer for
  five years, and weve got this project and that
  project, help us with this, help us with that.
• Success and departure of BDMs

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7 samurai opening the ivory tower

• Three elements hang together in narrative
• University held under thrall of risk aversion,
  millions of pounds lost, the BDMs come and change
  the university, their work there is done and they
  move on to new challenges
• Segment actors by ownership of the story
• Position reflects real cultural position
• Complements the bureaucratic- hierarchy
• Synthetic model of proximity and outreach

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The university extended family
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Building linkages and proximity

• University as stable actor in weak RIS
• Sheltering trusted friends in volatile
  environment
• Creating a regional micro-knowledge economy

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Sheltering biotechnology
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Concluding discussion

• University as a network needs linkages
• Active engagement by university bringing
  external partners into the university
• Proximity to the ordinary economy
• Risk of global knowledge enclave
• Only one element of universities engagement