Co-location: The Role of Place and Proximity | August 2020 Issue

Today’s innovation ecosystems are composed of a variety of interconnected elements and stakeholders that mutually benefit and reinforce each other. with place-based innovation as a growth engine, regions and districts are increasingly becoming a driving force towards a knowledge-based economy. Through proximity-driven collaboration and co-location, in particular, different actors of the quadruple helix, including universities, industry, governmental actors and society at large, engage in co-creation of innovation that immediately contributes to urban and regional development.

Taking this as a starting point, in our new issue we aim to provide insights into the ‘territorial’ approach to innovation, and, particularly, the role of space, place and proximity in driving innovation and entrepreneurship through co-location of universities and business in the cities and regions. We explore which roles different co-creators can adopt and how exactly the place-based innovation process takes place and is enhanced. Through this magazine issue, we intend to highlight the successful experiences and practices of proximity-driven collaboration and discuss crucial success factors of such approaches to cooperation.

Our guest authors from France and Australia put emphasis on the key function of innovation precincts and campuses as regional growth engines in their immediate ecosystems. The contributions from Finland paint a picture of how the entrepreneurial communities can be effectively enhanced through active academia-industry co-creation and entrepreneurial activities by university and business stakeholders in the region, whereas the examples from Germany provide insights into a colocation approach to collaboration as well as broader development of the local place-based innovation ecosystem.

Whilst the guest authors from Turkey demonstrate an example of the university-based science park as a driver of the local entrepreneurship ecosystem, the contribution from Denmark describes a controversial approach to co-working that brings entrepreneurs closer to students and integrates them into the learning process.

Details

Title: University Industry Interaction Magazine – Co-location: The Role of Place and Proximity (August 2020 Issue)
Year: 2020
Pages: 21
Language: English