Synopsis: Education: Level of education: University: University: University:

and Technical University of Eindhoven, The netherlands 2 United Nation University-Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU MERIT), The netherlands 3 Tilburg

University, The netherlands 2 The Maastricht School of management is a leading provider of management education with worldwide presence.

and Technical University of Eindhoven, The netherlands, b United Nation University-Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU MERIT), The netherlands, c Tilburg

University, The netherlands Preliminary Draft ABSTRACT This study investigates the role of intra-cluster ties, extra-cluster ties,

2001) investigated the relationship of EO and external networks such as government and university on sales growth,

these firms exhibit a high degree of interconnectedness between themselves and with local institutions such as government agencies, research institutes and universities (Porter, 2000).

competitors, research centres and universities, within and outside its cluster respectively. Both variables are expressed in logarithms (Leiponen & Helfat, 2011.

encompassing suppliers, distributors, government agencies, research centers, financial institutions, and universities. In future research we hope to explore the consequences of partner heterogeneity in the context of emerging-economy SMES. 21 References Aiken, L. S,

Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference on International Business (ICIB), University of Macedonia. Hitt, M. A.,Hoskisson, R. E,

The impact of network capabilities and entrepreneurial orientation on university spin-off performance. Journal of Business Venturing, 21 (4), 541-567.27 Ward, J. L. 1997.

2014, Sibiu, Romania Entrepreneurship and SMES Innovation in Romania Nelu Eugen Popescu a,*alucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic sciences, 17 Dumbravii Avenue, Sibiu

the Technology Transfer Office of the University of Malaga; the Technology Transfer Office of the University of Seville;

the Centre for Technological Investigation and Innovation (CITIUS) of the University of Seville; the General Secretariat for=Innovation‘of the regional Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Science (MEIS;

the General Secretariat for=Telecommunications and Information Society‘of the MEIS; the General Secretariat for=Industrial and Environmental Development‘of the MEIS;

the General Secretariat for=University, Investigation and Technology‘of the MEIS; the office FEDER (EU funds management) of the MEIS;

Jaime del Castillo, University of the Basque Country and INFYDE, Spain; Prof. Karen Chapple, University of California at Berkeley, USA;

Prof. Andrew Cumbers, University of Glasgow, UK; Prof. Jay Mitra, University of Essex, UK; Dr. Ricardo Pinto, Pinto-Consulting, Hamburg, Germany;

Prof. David Wolfe, University of Toronto, Canada. The review team was informed initially about the main features of Andalusia‘s economy

and entrepreneurship support system by a diagnostic report prepared by Prof. Vicente Granados-Cabezas of the University of Malaga.

CONTRIBUTORS TO THE CHAPTERS Introduction, by Jay Mitra. Chapter I: Economic and Institutional Overview of Andalusia, by Vicente Granados-Cabezas, Jaime del Castillo,

and Marco Marchese. Chapter II: Human capital and the labour market, by Karen Chapple and Sergio Montero-Muñoz.

The region has experienced actually a reduction in post-compulsory school and university attendance, the latter declining from 14.7%in 1997/8 to 12.2%in 2007/8.

and the EU. The quality of universities needs to be enhanced The university system 10 public universities with a total of approximately 230 000 students depends on the Regional Ministry of Economy,

and this has created greater pressure for industry-university collaboration. In general terms, however, Spanish universities do not rank well in international quality rankings.

The only two listed among the top 500 universities are the University of Granada and the University of Seville,

while Malaga and all other local universities do not make it in any of the major world rankings.

One attempt to compensate for the weakness of Spanish universities is the Talentia program, which offers young college graduates financial support for their graduate work at top international universities, on the condition that they return to the region to work for at least four years.

By 2009 the program had funded about 500 young Andalusians and was considered largely successful in generating skilled workforce for local companies.

Attendance of vocational training is on the rise In Andalusia a total of nearly 95 000 students attend vocational training,

less than half the number that attend public universities. The II Andalusia Plan for Vocational training, currently being prepared by the Ministry of Education,

Contribution of research organisations Universities play a key role in the design and implementation of the regional innovation strategy A key focus of the regional innovation policy is to encourage

and to promote the creation of spin-off companies from publicly financed research in the university.

Universities occupy a key position in this strategy and are, as a result, the chief beneficiary of funding under the Innovation and Modernisation Plan for Andalusia (PIMA).

Public universities have thus been the primary source of R&d spending in the region as well as the principal beneficiaries of the increase in public funds for research and in technology parks since the 1990s.

and especially of the research universities, is strongly reinforced by the priority afforded to them in the region‘s strategic plans.

There is some disconnection between university research and industry needs. A strong coordination between the research priorities of universities and those of regional strategic plans is indicated missing,

as for instance by the relative absence of prioritizing of research in biotechnology, ICTS or tourism in regional universities.

This is the result of universities not having their own research strategies; the latter are derived indeed often directly from the research groups,

which are the main organisational unit and recipient of R&d funding in universities. OTRIS are the main link between universities and firms,

but they lack sufficient and adequate staff Support for university research is provided through a range of institutions,

including the industrial liaison offices (OTRIS). The OTRIS are responsible for channelling external research demands to the appropriate research groups within their own institutions

and for promoting the transfer of research results into the private sector through patenting, licensing and spin-offs.

especially in the case of spin-offs derived from university research. However, the function of OTRIS is hampered by limited staff to keep sufficient contact with local businesses.

These offices are asked to serve the needs of their universities as a whole, while the requirements of individual departments can be very different.

This is an issue that needs to be addressed in the future to improve the relationships of universities with SMES in the region.

National legislation hinders university commercialisation and researcher mobility The challenge of promoting the commercialization of intellectual property is made more difficult by the conditions established by the Spanish Patent Act.

It designates that the ownership of discoveries made by university professors during their period of contract with the university and

which constitute part of their university duties, belong to the university. Professors have the right to share in the benefits that flow to the university from the use of the intellectual property rights derived from their inventions,

but the precise share that they receive is governed by the statutes of the individual universities.

Regional universities are critical of this legal framework as it provides little guidance for determining how benefits should be shared in the course of contractual work.

National regulations have imposed also restrictions on the mobility of university researchers between the public sector and private spin-off companies.

University staff are prevented from holding more than a 10 per cent interest in private companies from being a member of a board of directors,

or taking a temporary leave from the university to form a private company. The act governing universities was amended in 2001 to allow university researchers a five year leave of absence without giving up their university position to participate in technology-based spinoffs.

However, the universities are still critical of the current law as they feel that the guidelines for implementing the regulations are insufficient to allow the integration of university researchers into technology-based spinoffs.

Andalusia needs to recognise the role of less R&d intensive forms of industry-university cooperation R&d-related activities do not play a major role in most of the firms considered as=innovative‘within the Andalusian economy.

It is important for universities and regional coordinating bodies to recognize that R&d activities, especially the commercialization and exploitation of intellectual property derived from university research are just a portion of the firm‘s overall interactions with the higher education system.

In fact, an interest in this aspect only emerges when firms have an absorptive capacity that has been built up through a wide range of previous interactions with universities.

The policy implication is that there needs to be greater public support for less R&d-intensive forms of interaction between the universities and private firms.

This would require the universities providing greater support in the form of technical advice and problem solving.

It could also be facilitated by more focused forms of cooperative education programs ensuring that the students being trained in the universities are familiar with the kinds of technical problems that local firms must overcome.

It is through these lower orders of industry-university interaction that the absorptive capacity of firms,

a prerequisite for R&d engagement and IPR exploitation, will be developed. Some regional programmes are being successful in promoting technology-based start-ups The regional government has established two separate programmes to promote the creation of technology-intensive start-ups.

The Atlantis Programme is geared toward identifying newly formed enterprises from across Spain and attracting them to establish themselves in Andalusia.

The Campus Programme supports spinoffs from Andalusian universities by providing them with loans of up to EUR 100 000.

These combined efforts have brought about some success as the rate of formation of new technology-based firms has increased steadily over the past decade, with a cumulative total of more than 120 established by 2008.

New programmes hold the promise to strengthen industry-university collaboration The national government of Spain has launched recently a new programme called Campus of International Excellence,

which wants to reinforce the collaboration of universities with the local surrounding environment firms, technology parks, technology centres, foundations,

etc. with a view to creating knowledge ecosystems that support local development, employment and social cohesion.

Two projects from Andalusia one jointly presented by the University of Seville and the University of Malaga and one from the University of Granada have been restricted in the group of the selected initiatives.

The first (Andalucía-TECH) will have an international horizon and a multidisciplinary focus, promoting research excellence in the areas of aeronautics, biotechnologies, communications, energy and environment, transport, and tourism.

tapping on the local competence base provided by the local University and the Health Sciences Technology Park.

While in technology parks there is a relatively high level of collaboration with universities and government research centres,

As a result, existing policy agendas seeking to internationationalise these activities by developing links with foreign companies and universities should be encouraged and extended.

including technology parks, technology centres and universities, and ensured that their support is coherent, meets needs on the ground

Thirdly, the survey of the innovative needs of small firms that RETA has undertaken could be matched with the available expertise in local universities

and thereby serve as the basis for more effective industry-university relationships going beyond IPR-based interactions.

Think of promoting corporate spin-offs as an alternative to university spinoffs with stronger industry and market knowledge. SME development Reassess the competitive prospects of firms in technology parks

including by strengthening the relationships of the latter with local universities. Focus work on firms with innovation potential,

exploiting RETA s privileged relationships with local innovative SMES and entrepreneurs and with technology parks and universities.

This will include involvement in future cooperative education programmes and retention of talented foreign students from local universities in technology parks.

Research organisations Research organisations include universities and private and public research institutes. The role of universities in producing cutting edge research

and prospects of new technology development is recognised now well. The traditional notion of universities carrying out research activity first, with the private sector then commercialising the outcomes of the research as part of a linear process of knowledge and technology development, has given way to a more rounded approach

which brings all stakeholders of knowledge creation and commercialisation together at all points in the process of making new goods

Universities now engage in industrial innovation through a variety of channels including learning by researching,

Institutions and governance Institutions play a key role in producing highly skilled and competent individuals through their universities and related institutions.

Granados, University of Malaga) to provide an initial analysis of the key facts about the Andalusia economic system and the entrepreneurship and SME policy context.

R&d as a%of GDP (2007) 0. 2 0. 2 University R&d as a%of GDP (2007) 0. 3 0. 4 Secondary education as%of labour force (2008) 20.7 16.8

In particular, the share of university graduates has shrunk significantly by 3 percentage points from 14.7%in 1998 to 11.7%in 2009,

At the university level there are 270 research groups that specialise in biomedicine, 170 in life sciences and 120 in agrobiotechnologies.

The regional government supports biotech-oriented activities at both the university and industry levels, with a view to nurturing the emergence of a strong and internationally competitive local biotech clusters.

The break-down of R&d expenditure by sector (Fig. 5) additionally points out how universities and higher education institutions (HEIS) have traditionally been the main sources of R&d spending,

National Institute of Statistics (INE) Figure 6. R&d expenditure by sector in EUR 000s (1987-2008) Private sector Public Administration Universities and HEIS Source:

Industry-university relationships With its nine public universities, 17 000 teaching and research staff and 250 000 students, higher education institutions (HEIS) take the lion‘s share in the R&d system (Fig

. 5). Universities account for 45%of R&d expenditure, and 61%of researchers in the region are employed by the HEI system.

Hence, universities have the key role of trickling down the R&d benefits to the private sector in the development strategy of the region.

A recent research project by the Institute for Advanced Social Studies (IESA) of the Spanish Council of Scientific research (CSIC has taken to investigate the existing relationships between the regional university systems and local firms.

As part of this project, a survey of over 700 Andalusian firms that had received some form of innovation support concluded that more than half of the sample did not engage in any type of collaboration with universities,

Among these, the most common was the training of university personnel inside the firm (27.5),

Consultancies, joint research projects and university training programmes for employees were also relatively common involving between 15%-25%of the surveyed enterprises.

Between 5%-15%of the firms contracted R&d projects, use university facilities or exchanged staff,

whilst only less than 5%licensed patents or undertook joint start-ups with university staff (Fernandez-Esquinas et al.,

and that seeks to enhance the absorptive capacity of local firms to increase the number of firms able to interact with universities.

unfolding entrepreneurship programmes aimed at specific social groups (e g. women, youth, university graduates, disadvantaged people, etc.),

This is a private foundation sponsored by the regional government with the aim to boost collaboration between R&d-intensive companies and the university research groups.

CTA provides resources and advice for the identification and generation of industry-university cooperation projects.

and in the case of firms in traditional sectors are willing to collaborate with universities for at least two years.

and innovation agenda and encourages universities to cooperate more intensively with the private sector. The objectives of stronger industry-university knowledge transfer and of more research-based spinoffs are made explicit,

especially in sectors considered strategic for the region. The overall budget for the implementation of PIMA is approximately EUR 5. 7 billion,

of which 2. 7 (or nearly half) is designated for the support of knowledgebased industries and universities.

i e. reinforcing industry-university collaboration as one of the key elements for the development of the region.

ii) knowledge generation organisations (i e. universities, research centres, private R&d labs, etc.;iii) knowledge transfer institutions (i e. technology centres;

and E. Espinosa-de-los-Monteros (2008), Unfolding the Complexity of Interactions between Industry and University, CSIC-IESA paper, Madrid.

One path to competing in the global knowledge economy is through using local universities to develop a high-skilled workforce to serve local firms

In general, the evidence from the study visit is that Andalusia has emphasized the role of universities rather than local quality of life.

Such interaction turns out to be far more important than collaboration with universities, particularly for regions dominated by low-tech businesses.

and local chambers of commerce than with universities (Chapple and Hutson, 2010). Where university relationships matter, it is more for their human resource development than for R&d (Ramos-Vielba, Fernández-Esquinas,

and Espinosa-de-los-Monteros, 2009). This supports the idea that knowledge creation and application is embedded a socially process in

which social and interpersonal networks with a variety of regional and global agents, including universities

instead mostly the first, the role of higher education and university-industry linkages, rather than the latter three.

and technology transfer between universities and the private sector. The Bologna process will introduce a new structure for university degrees in Spain, similar to that of the US and the UK, based on a three level system:

Grado (4 year undergraduate degree), Master (1 or 2 year graduate education) and Doctorado (3-4 year postmaster graduate education.

The idea is to adopt a system of easily comparable university degrees that would allow overcoming the current bureaucratic obstacles to the recognition of degrees and movement of students, researchers, faculty and staff within European universities.

At the same time, as discussed further below, the last decade has seen students increasingly selecting traditional vocational training rather than university education (Junta de Andalucía, 2009.

In a decade (1999-2009), Andalusian universities lost 46 852 students. Still, there are returns to higher education:

During the recent economic crisis, Andalusian universities have seen enrolment increase by over two percent. In addition, the changing demographic structure in the region has affected labour market dynamics.

The immigrant population includes a substantial increase in the number of foreign university students coming to Andalusian universities for undergraduate studies (EU/Erasmus and Moroccan students) and for graduate studies (from Latin america, EU and North africa.

Despite the fact that Andalusian universities might be lagging behind in international rankings, the quality of life of Andalusia seems to be attracting foreign students.

The popularity of Andalusian universities, coupled with the attraction of immigrant entrepreneurs, may constitute key opportunities for RETA and the region.

the Regional Ministry of Education and Science was created to manage the education and training system in the region, both at the university and non-university levels.

The Ministry expanded access to education by creating new public universities and vocational schools in each of the 8 provinces and increasing the number of degrees and availability of seats.

PAIDI‘s main focus is on technology transfer and the promotion of public-private partnerships between Andalusia public universities (dependent on the regional government) and companies.

In 2004, the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Enterprise assumed responsibility for universities, university research and technology transfer in Andalusia. 2 For the first time,

university and non-university education were separated in the Andalusia government, with vocational training and non-university education remaining in the Ministry of Education.

The idea was to use universities as innovation and economic development tools and facilitate a shift towards an economy based on knowledge. 3 On March 22,

2010, the Regional Ministry of Economy merged with the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Enterprise. 4 The newly created Ministry of Economy,

Innovation and Science confirmed the commitment of the regional government to make technology transfer between the 10 Andalusia public universities and Andalusia companies the key regional economic development strategy.

Accordingly, the regional government put Andalusia public universities at the centre of the Andalusia system of innovation.

The university system There are currently 10 public universities in Andalusia with a total of approximately 230 000 students.

The Universities of Seville and Granada dominate enrolment, with 57 000 and 56 000 students, respectively;

the University of Malaga is a distant third, with 33 000 students, and the others are substantially smaller. 2 Decreto del Presidente 11/2004, de 24 de abril, sobre reestructuración de Consejerías,

but sometimes sensitive because these regional universities are competitors: they are not specialised but rather generalist universities.

The availability of competitive EU and national research projects that favour interuniversity cooperation is improving this issue by enabling collaboration among Andalusia universities and between Andalusian and other European universities.

All Andalusia public universities are part of the so-called Unified Andalusia University District (Distrito Universitario Único Andaluz),

which is now dependent on the Regional Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Science. This has created greater pressure for industryuniversity collaboration.

which students chose their university. However the Bologna process and the new plans of the regional government to increase the specialization of universities is expected to bring more competition for student recruiting

and make Andalusia universities more specialized than generalist. This is also trying to stop the=brain drain‘of Andalusia students going to private university institutions

and business schools in Madrid and Barcelona to get their graduate degrees. In general terms, Spanish universities do not rank well in international quality rankings,

which are skewed reputedly towards larger and English-speaking universities. The 2009 Academic ranking of world universities, elaborated by the Institute of Higher education of Shanghai

China, places the first Spanish centre, the University of Barcelona, in the 151-202 band.

The first Andalusia institution mentioned is the University of Granada, followed by the University of Seville (both in the 402-501 band).

Another popular international ranking, The Times QS, placed Barcelona in the 171st position, Granada in the 401-500 band and Seville in the 501-600 band.

Neither ranking mentioned Malaga or other Andalusia universities. While university rankings have been present in the U s. for a long time,

over the past decade they have become increasingly important in countries in Europe and around the world,

despite the critiques that they do not recognize university quality and dynamism. An important and effective regional programme to upgrade local talent is Talentia, by

which the regional government offers young college graduates financial support for their graduate work at top international universities,

on the condition that they return to the region to work for four years. By 2009, the program had funded about five hundred young Andalusians (Laurent, Periáñez and Petit de Gabriel, 2010.

At the same time, despite the lagging position of Spanish universities in quality rankings, they are the favourite destination for Erasmus exchange students:

with the University of Granada being number one, the University of Seville number 6 and the University of Malaga number 34.5 Graduate programs also attract an increasing number of foreign students to Andalusia universities:

20%are of foreign origin, with 8%coming from Latin america, 4%from the EU, 3%from North america,

and about 2%from North africa (Instituto Estadístico de Andalucía, 2010). The universities of Granada, Seville and Malaga have become a magnet for attracting international students

and yet few efforts are made by the regional government to retain this talent from going back to their countries once they graduate.

5 Erasmus is the EU flagship higher education program enabling 200 000 European students to study in a university from another member country each year.

Vocational training (Formación Profesional or FP) serves young people as a professional alternative to the Baccalaureate and university education.

In Andalusia, a total of 94 710 students attend vocational training less than half the number that attend the public universities.

available at http://www. educacion. es/horizontales/prensa/discursos/2010/02/comparecencia-discurso. html Changes in the university system present another opportunity.

Increasing specialization, particularly in the flagship universities of Granada and Seville, should help attract even more foreign exchange students for the region.

Finally, the region might support the local residents who are increasingly choosing vocational over university training to obtain skills that will improve entrepreneurship.

While the university offerings focus mostly on connecting high-tech workers and start-ups to entrepreneurship skills,

Public universities Universities support entrepreneurship in four ways:(1) providing workshops on starting a business for free or at very low rates;(

2) at seven of the ten universities, supporting the Bancaja Young Entrepreneur Chairs, with special seminars, networking with entrepreneurs, and training opportunities;(

Each university has created also specific initiatives and courses to promote entrepreneurship. For instance, the Economics department at the University of Malaga (UMA) started offering a course on entrepreneurship in 2009.

This is an elective course that all university students can take, although only 200 students took and most of them came from the Economics department.

the University of Seville, in collaboration with its OTRI (Technology Transfer Office), supports entrepreneurs involved in the creation of university spin-offs by paying part of the fees of an MBA PROGRAM.

Business schools In Spain, the public university system has a better reputation than the private system, except in the field of business education.

Economics and business administration departments in public universities are disconnected often from the local business community and, in response,

OTRIS are increasingly paying attention to promote entrepreneurial activity among students as a way to increase the number of companies originated in the university.

For instance, the OTRI of the University of Granada offers a program called La Ruta Emprendedora (The Entrepreneurial Route) that supports visits to technology parks

but it also targets students (in high school, vocational training schools and universities) and women. ANDALUCIA EMPRENDE has more than 200 business incubators (Centros de Apoyo al Desarrollo Empresarial,

and 2) a university program promoting entrepreneurship, held at all public universities in Andalusia. They also host gatherings called Let s Speak about Enterprise in different educational institutions in Andalusia, with 99 000 people taking part in 2007 and 2008.8.

For instance, in 1999, the San Telmo Institute with the support of MIT created the CREARA program to promote entrepreneurship and the creation of innovative companies in the region.

They also have specific agreements with universities and technology centres to support their IT and technology activities.

Many of the region‘s public universities are engaged already in entrepreneurship education, from special workshops to support for MBA PROGRAMS to internship programs at the technology parks.

such as La Ruta Emprendedora at the University of Granada, as well as RETA‘s own digital cluster program with CITIC (see below).

But most commonly emphasized by stakeholders in the Andalusian regional innovation system is the training available at the universities.

Focusing nearly exclusively on university R&d and technology transfer, regional actors seem to have missed the more modest but important contribution of vocational training and education.

the reality is that most SMES in Andalusia are highly dependent on personnel without a university degree.

as noted above, the regional ministries have undergone multiple reorganizations in the past decade, with the Ministry of Science and Innovation taking responsibility for universities away from the Ministry of Education in 2004,

However, given the importance of non-university-related innovation, as well as the depth of the region‘s economic problems, it is unfortunate that this separation of agencies may hinder strategic coordination, for instance of vocational training and industry clusters.

One course combined online and onsite training, in collaboration with the International University of Andalusia (UNIA), in 9 Técnico Superior en Eficiencia Energética y Energía Solar Térmica Entrepreneur

Opportunities for RETA Despite the challenges the redundancy in overall education and training system, the lack of university savvy about technology and entrepreneurship,

it has the opportunity to help coordinate training programs across agencies, universities and schools and advocate for more sophisticated training programs.

There is an opportunity to coordinate more university activity regionally and link it better to regional needs.

which span beyond the university system to include business associations and government. There is also considerable existing energy, enthusiasm,

The university system is committed to support labour policy, technology, and entrepreneurship. While most effort of the regional government to promote entrepreneurship

and talent seem to be focused in improving sending Andalusian students to top universities abroad (as in the Talentia program),

there is also a remarkable opportunity to retain the large number of foreign students that are attracted to Andalusian universities every year.

The Universities of Granada and Sevilla alone received over 3 000 exchange students in 2007-08, placing Andalucia ahead even of Barcelona in popularity.

and the University of Illinois. The partnership aims to capitalize on the East Bay‘s regional strengths and assets,

www. ebgreencorridor. org Entrepreneurship training in Gothenburg, Sweden As described above, the Andalusian public universities offer a few entrepreneurship training programs,

as well as the concentration of foreign students and immigrant entrepreneurs, there may be potential to expand the offerings at the university level.

Developing an entrepreneurial university takes time, and with limited resources, it may be best to focus on just one of the public universities.

Such targeting is did what Sweden to counter its relatively weak entrepreneurial culture, as it invested in technology-based entrepreneurship at the University of Gothenburg and the nearby Chalmers University of Technology (Jacob, Lundqvist, and Hellmark 2003.

Sweden‘s emphasis on new technology-based firms is based on the understanding that they contribute to economic growth not just by producing own products

Programs at both the Chalmers School and the School of economics and Commercial law at the University of Gothenburg are highly selective. 12 A small class of students engage in the entrepreneurship process,

The universities offer office 12 More recently, Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg have joined forces to teach entrepreneurship at the higher education level in the region, with the support of the Swedish government

Although there are significant attempts at regional coordination among the public universities in Andalusia, there is also much redundancy.

The Gothenburg model provides a useful model for a region that has struggled to launch entrepreneurship programs at the universities.

specifically a new learning-by-doing program as has been so successful in Gothenburg, at one of the biggest universities.

First, Andalusia universities lack the competitive specializations of the many Gothenburg research institutions. Second, initiating the effort would require significant regional and national investment, likely diverting funding from other university-based innovation programs.

For further information Chalmers School of Entrepreneurship, http://www. entrepreneur. chalmers. se/cse/School of economics and Commercial law at Gothenburg University, http://www. hgu. gu. se

/item. aspx? id=17007 Web localization certificate programmes: Training entrepreneurs for global e-commerce Although entrepreneurship programs have offered training in e-commerce for many years,

For further information John Cook School of business at St louis University, http://globalizationexecutive. com/;/Austin Community college, http://www. austincc. edu/techcert/localization. php;

Columbia University Press. Carnoy, M. 1994. Faded Dreams: the Politics and Economics of Race in America.

Institute of Urban and Regional Development, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA. Chapple, K. & Hutson, M. 2010.

University of California-Berkeley, Coronado, D.,Acosta, M. and Fernández, A. 2008. Attitudes to innovation in peripheral economic regions.

their origin and interaction with universities and large firms. Regional Studies 33,4: 379-389. de Neubourg, C.,Castonguay, J. & K. Roelen. 2005.

Entrepreneurial transformations in the Swedish University system: The case of Chalmers University of Technology. Research Policy 32,9: 1555-1568 Junta de Andalucía. 2007.

Plan Andaluz de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación, available at www. juntadeandalucia. es/economiainnovacionyciencia//.///Plan andaluz.../1497084 plananda luzdeinvestigacionxdesarrolloeinnovacion . pdf Junta de Andalucía. 2009.

Measuring university industry collaboration in a regional innovation system. Scientometrics 84,3: 649-667, Rasmussen, E. & Sørheim, R. 2006.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS Introduction Universities and public and private research organizations play a crucial role in regional economies that rely upon growth-oriented entrepreneurship and business innovation.

In particular, research spin-offs and industry-university knowledge transfer (labour mobility, research collaborations, technology transfer agencies, university technology licensing programs, etc.)

are key elements of this process, given the importance of basic and precompetitive research for innovation.

which universities and research organizations contribute to regional economic development. These new models and the insights they afford for a catch up region

It documents the policy context for the regional economy and the role played by both the Andalusia university system and RETA within that context.

The role of RETA in supporting the development of industry-university relationships is examined. Policy recommendations are based on the alternative perspectives on innovation and the knowledge transfer process

Firms interested in accessing the tacit knowledge embedded in university research have to build common ground that overlaps the context of the university laboratory with that of their own R&d laboratories, design shops, and manufacturing plants.

and technologies or codified in publications is key to understanding how university-industry knowledge occurs.

A key aspect of the process of knowledge transfer from universities and research institutes is through personal connections given that the knowledge being transferred is embodied‘.

‘To deploy university-generated knowledge in a commercial setting, firms must capture both its tacit,

Knowledge transfers between universities and other economic actors are personalized highly, and as a result, often highly localized,

The proximity effect of knowledge transfer provides a strong clue as to why universities are seen increasingly as an essential element in the process of local and regional economic development.

The preceding discussion suggests that the task of transferring knowledge from universities to industries is more complex,

and the role of universities in economic development more varied, than the linear approach to the innovation process allows.

Conventional approaches to the question of knowledge flows between universities and industry, including both first and second generation models outlined above

Any assessment of the economic role of universities must recognize the numerous, diverse channels through which university research influences industrial innovation and vice versa (Mowery, Nelson, Sampat et al.,

2004, p. 176. Research organizations, including universities, are not just generators of commercial knowledge or even highly qualified research scientists;

they provide other equally critical mechanisms of knowledge transfer. First, they generate and attract talent,

Second, in addition to the conduct of basic research, universities provide both formal and informal technical support, as well as specialized expertise and facilities for ongoing, firmbased R&d activities.

A recent examination by the National Academy of Engineering documents the multiple ways in which universities contribute to the development and expansion of local industry:

and finally as the nuclei for start-up companies that spin-off from universities to become the seeds of new business (National Academy of Engineering, 2003, pp. 46 48;

university research becomes increasingly important to local firms not just for the transfer of knowledge generated through its own research activities,

From this perspective, universities can be seen as multifaceted economic actors who are embedded in regions, and not only produce codified knowledge and human capital,

The impact of the university can extend beyond the provision of basic research but, in order for this to occur,

the knowledge assets of the university must be aligned properly with the multifaceted needs of local firms.

The university must also address the business workforce, and community issues. The university must be aligned with regional interests

and industry clusters across a broad spectrum, not just in terms of technical knowledge (Paytas, Gradeck, and Andrew, 2004,34).

University-industry linkages play an important role, but they tend to take the form of applied problem solving, rather than basic research.

University-industry linkages are an essential part of the knowledge transfer for sectors that rely upon this type of knowledge base.

These distinctions between the different types of knowledge bases and different modes of innovation are important for understanding how firms utilize the results of university-based research as well as the role played by highly qualified personnel trained through university-based research.

The existence of these different dimensions of the innovation process suggests there is considerable variation in how university research is applied taken up

University research is of value to innovative firms in terms of keeping them informed about where the knowledge frontier is moving in these disciplines and for the recruitment of highly trained personnel.

In these industries, the direct results of university research and their potential for commercialization are much more relevant for the innovative activities of individual firms.

The ability of firms to draw on both the tacit and codified components of university research,

development and innovation (R+D+I) policy in Andalusia and the specific role assigned to the universities in promoting innovation.

It pays particular attention to the current state of the technology transfer process between the universities and enterprises in the regional economy, especially in terms of the concentration of the industrial structure of the region in small and medium-sized enterprises.

It draws on an important distinction that was made to members of the OECD-LEED Study Mission between the role of the largest universities in the region especially the two visited by the study team

+I and private companies and to promote the creation of spin-off companies from publicly financed research in the university sector.

The university system is designated as playing a key role in this strategy. The PIMA notes that there has been a significant investment in the system over the past ten years

which has resulted in the creation of five new universities and a 28 percent increase in the number of students enrolled

and a corresponding increase in the teaching staff of the universities. This increase in the size and level of enrolment in the Andalusia university system is part of a broader change process focused on adapting teaching in the universities to social

and business needs and developing a first class research enterprise. These goals are to be operational through the financing of joint university-business R+D

+I projects, targeted particularly on strategic business sectors and through the funding of high quality research projects.

and promote the degree of technology transfer by promoting the role of the Industrial Liaison Offices (OTRIS) in the universities,

of which approximately EUR 2. 7 billion (or nearly half) is designated for the support of knowledge industry and universities (Junta de Andalucía, 2006,116).

The main focus of PAIDI is on technology transfer and the promotion of public-private partnerships between Andalusia public universities (dependent on the regional government) and private companies.

further reinforcing the key role of technology transfer and collaboration between the public universities and private companies as the central element of the regional government‘s economic development strategy in Andalusia.

The second category includes the ten public universities in the region, as well as public research organizations, research centres

The key role of the public university system The public university system clearly occupies a key position at the centre of both the overall institutional design of the knowledge and innovation support system in Andalusia

Public universities have thus been the primary source of R&d spending in the region as well as the principal beneficiaries of the increase in public funds for research and in technology parks since the 1990s.

The privileged position of the public sector and especially the research universities, is strongly reinforced by the priority afforded to them in the region‘s strategic plans discussed above.

the recent direction has evolved gradually towards greater emphasis on innovation in industry and fostering greater collaboration between the universities and industry (Sanz-Menendez and Crus-Castro 2005,24 25).

Research teams The Andalusia university system consists of ten public universities, of which one, the Universidad Internacional de Andalucía (UNIA) is devoted primarily to teaching

The regional system of universities is governed by statutes and regulations of the central 13. The PAIDI identifies a long list of priority research areas for the region,

although they rely on the regional government for their financing and the overall management of the university system.

A key focus of the region‘s strategy has been to position university researchers to compete as effectively as possible for national and EU sources of research funding.

This has led to an organizational focus on providing support for research teams within the universities as the principal basis for research funding,

which in turn has had a strong impact on the organizational structure of the universities. The establishment of an official register of university research teams has made de facto the research team the key organizational unit responsible for the conduct of scientific research within the universities.

This internal structuring has been formalized in the University Law of 2003 and regional regulations governing the university system,

which now designate research teams as a core element in the internal structure of the universities (Ramos-Vielba and Fernandez-Esquinas, 2009).

The nine research universities have drawn up their own research strategies in response to the PAIDI;

however, the recent self evaluation report prepared for the OECD review of higher education in the region notes that the relation between the universities‘research priorities

and those designated in the region‘s strategic plans lacks a strong degree of coordination,

as indicated by the relative absence of the universities‘prioritizing of research in biotechnology, ICTS or tourism.

The self evaluation report concludes that this shows that the universities do not have their own research strategies,

The Technology Transfer Offices (OTRIS) Support for university research is provided through a range of institutions,

including the OTRIS, the university foundations and the presence of the universities in the technology parks.

The nine public research universities also develop their own strategies to meet regional demands, especially the needs of the SMES through their association with other research organizations such as the Higher National Research Council (CSIC

Each of the nine universities, excepting UNIA, has an OTRI; these are in turn part of the National OTRI-Net

especially in the case of spin-offs derived from university research. They also support the university community in registering new patents.

Apart from their function of promoting technology transfer, public-private cooperation and creation of spin-offs,

they are increasingly paying attention to promoting entrepreneurial activity among students as a way to increase the number of companies originated in the university.

and release time for university research to participate in start-up firms. One of the main difficulties experienced by the OTRIS in Andalusia is need that they to serve the needs of their universities as a whole,

while the needs of individual departments might be quite different. As one of the university officials noted for the case of researchers and entrepreneurs in our site visit to the University of Seville,

one of the problems is the size of the University of Seville...They have centralized a OTRI,

but they would probably need an OTRI in each main department, or at least in the applied science departments.

It designates that the ownership of discoveries made by university professors during their period of contract with the university,

and which constitute part of their university duties, belong to the university. Professors have the right to share in the benefits that flow to the university from the use of the intellectual property rights derived from their inventions

but the precise share that they receive is governed by the statutes of the individual universities.

In general, the universities are critical of the current state of the legal framework governing intellectual property rights as it provides them with little guidance for determining how benefits should be shared in the course of contractual work.

National regulations have imposed also traditionally restrictions on the mobility of university researchers between the public sector and private spin-off companies,

as it limits them from holding more than a 10 percent interest in private companies, from being a member of a board of directors,

or taking a temporary leave of absence from the university to form a private company. The act governing universities was amended in 2001 to allow university researchers a five year leave of absence without giving up their university position to participate in technology-based spin-offs (Empresas de Base Tecnológica-EBT.

However, the universities are still critical of the current law as they feel that the guidelines for implementing the regulations are insufficient to allow the integration of university researchers into the EBTS.

The regional government has established also two separate programmes to promote the creation of EBTS. The Atlantis Programme, managed by the IDEA Agency is geared toward identifying newly formed enterprises from across Spain

and attracting them to set up in Andalusia. The Campus Programme, also managed by IDEA supports the spinoff of EBTS from Andalusia universities by providing them with loans of up to EUR 100 000 through the public venture capital fund Invercaria.

The universities undertake to mentor the start-ups right from their inception while IDEA provides the assessment needed to fund

and develop the project and ensure a greater potential for success. The combined efforts of the universities

and the regional government are clearly enjoying a certain degree of success as the rate of formation of new EBTS has increased steadily over the past decade, with a cumulative total of more than 120 established by 2008 (Laurent et al.,

) A final factor inhibiting the transfer of research results from the universities to the private sector is described as a cultural barrier.

Many of the region‘s universities place a higher priority on the performance of basic research as well as judge scholarly success based on the international recognition of research outputs,

which is limited not to Andalusia universities). One consequence of this cultural attitude is that the universities have been reluctant to direct research efforts in strategic directions related to areas of industrial strength in the regional economy,

acquiescing to pressure from their researchers to afford all areas of research endeavour equal treatment (Laurent, et al. 2010).

The following sections summarize the relevance of these key themes as they emerged from the visits of the study team with the representatives of two of the leading universities in the region:

Technology transfer at the University of Malaga Malaga is the third largest university of Andalusia after Granada and Seville.

The university has 270 active research groups, which is the third largest number in the region.

The university has been working on technology transfer for quite a while, although the regional government has made this a high priority in the last five years,

which has made more funding available to university. One problem that the university faces is that it has started up too many companies

but the government does not have sufficient funding available to support all of the start ups. Roughly 30 percent of the university funding is tied to the number of patents, spinoffs,

and number of companies that the university provides technical assistance to. These performance indicators for research and technology transfer are valuable in helping universities obtain government funding.

The University of Malaga is part of the network of technology transfer offices in Andalusia (Red OTRI)

whose purpose is to help the individual universities collaborate more effectively. They have a parallel system in effect between the network of technology transfer offices and RETA.

The connection with RETA is primarily through the University of Malaga while the relationship between other universities is maintained through the network of technology transfer offices.

The University of Malaga‘s underlying strategy is to generate technology push by moving research out of the university into the private sector.

They have generated 150 patents, but they also try to support a number of new spin-off companies every year.

They choose 11 projects per year, and then provide support to the best three economically. They provide the spin-off companies with a place to work for one year and also offer additional support to the companies in the form of economic feasibility studies.

After one year they have an agreement with the Malaga-based Andalusia Technology Park (PTA) that the firms can move to the incubator in the Park.

The university also has two persons in the research office working with the various research groups trying to determine what kind of results can best be diffused to private companies.

The objective of this focus is to demonstrate to new research groups within the university the feasibility of engaging in technology transfer activities.

Patenting tends to get more attention than spin-offs within the university because licensing a patent is easier to do

and a license generates faster returns to the university than the lengthy process involved in establishing a technology-based business.

Thus, the university focuses on promoting patents as a way to support external start-ups through technology licensing.

The university also organizes various seminars and meetings between private companies and its research groups.

The objective of this activity is to convince the private companies that increased contact with the universities is valuable for them

and then try to match their needs with the existing skills available within in the university.

The university enjoys a good working relationship with RETA and it draws upon this relationship to build its contacts with private companies.

and RETA‘s ability to send companies to the University for Assistance. RETA often has detailed knowledge of the individual needs or requirements of particular companies

which they provide to the university. The university in turn, tries to identify the appropriate research groups that have the specific skills that can help solve the technical problems faced by the companies.

Therefore, RETA acts as an intermediary between the university and the companies and 80 percent of the contacts generated by RETA have resulted in successful outcomes from the university‘s perspective.

One of the main fields in which the university invests more intensively is information and communications technology through its two academic centres

which have strong research capabilities in telematics and information and communications technology. They have very good performance indicators at the national level in this research area

and the ICT research groups within the university generate 44 percent of its overall income from research contracts.

the University of Malaga ia ranked 8th in the national rankings for ICT departments. Overall 50 percent of the university‘s research funding comes from national programs, 30 percent from regional programs, 10 percent from EU programs and 10 percent from technology transfer.

From the perspective of the university, the Andalusia regional government is doing a good job of providing support for R+D+I,

but there is still a significant gap between Andalusia and the more advanced regions, such as Catalonia and the Basque Country.

For instance, in Catalonia there are more university institutes that participate directly with private companies. With respect to technology transfer organizations within the regional innovation system

the university representatives felt there has been a multiplication of them in recent years, with the result that there are often parallel institutions with overlapping mandates that could be consolidated into fewer structures.

The university scientists find this support framework very confusing because they are asked to participate in a lot of different rounds of meetings with these various agencies.

when it is collaborating with the universities, but less so when it is not. This gives rise to the sentiment that the regional government should simplify the innovation system

With respect to the question of how the university views the=demand pull‘approach to technology transfer,

The universities in some respect have much more research and technology capabilities than the local companies need,

This suggests the need to rethink the way in which existing university capabilities can be deployed more effectively to meet the needs of local companies

Technology transfer at the University of Seville The second meeting was at the University of Seville with representatives of Citius and the OTRI.

Since 2004, the University has had a Vice-chancellor‘s Office for Technological Transfer separate from the Office of Research.

This office is responsible for overseeing the University‘s OTRI, as well as providing support services to facilitate work experience for its students in enterprises and the Foundation.

They offer assistance in the use of advanced equipment for the various research groups in the university plus the support of qualified technicians

Citius, the technology and innovation centre at the university is a 5 000 square metre building with a wide range of facilities that include a scanning electron microscope with the highest resolution in Spain,

For example, Endesa (the power company) has an agreement with the university under which it rents space,

but also has to spend a certain amount of money every year in research with the university which creates synergies between Endesa and the research groups.

which allows the companies use of the space in the university. Three companies that were mentioned were Ingeniatrics

They give companies a special price for using the research equipment in the university. The research centre is self-funding with a budget of EUR 1 million, 50 percent

one for technology commercialization, one to support research projects and the application process and one for entrepreneurship in the University of Seville.

and firms was EUR 28 million for the University of Seville, which accounts for approximately half of the total contract funding for the universities in Andalusia.

They have undertaken also all the management of projects related to Framework Funding from the EU. The third division in the Office of Technology Transfer provides support to spin-off companies of which there a total of 28

Funding for the OTRI comes half from the University of Seville, 40 percent from the regional government,

and provide flexible infrastructure space for the most important projects of the University of Seville.

One problem that was identified by the university representatives is that they lack a cadre of technically trained people who can provide technical support to research teams and firms.

The university is endowed well with professors and administrators but they also perceive the need for a category of people who do not do research,

The meeting with Citius and the OTRI also highlighted the general problem with the issue of the national regulations governing university employment

Professors cannot leave the university and go to work for a start up company with any assurance that they will be able to return from that employment to their university position.

A related problem that was identified concerns the issue of intellectual property rights (IPR. The university has found that companies want to retain all the rights to intellectual property

when they sign a contract with a university research team, and the university researchers are usually keen to sign the agreement no matter what the conditions are.

As a consequence, this means that the university will end up losing the benefit of years of research.

From the administrators‘perspective, this implies the need for a more balanced approach to sharing the benefits that will potentially flow from the IPR derived from university research.

However, control over IPR is often found to be one of the most difficult issues to negotiate in joint university-industry research initiatives

and there is no universally agreed solution to this problem. Furthermore the university representatives suggested the need to redesign career incentives,

because a career reward system based primarily on publications does not provide adequate recognition to researchers who are interested also in research commercialization and the transfer of knowledge.

However, research into this subject conducted in the U s. indicates that the internal incentive system within university departments tend to be shaped strongly by the leadership of those departments.

Departments with chairs who have a strong track record of licensing and commercializing their research results tend to set a pattern for other members of the department.

With respect to the question of technology transfer to SMES the university representatives suggested that the OTRI is prepared not well to provide technical assistance to firms.

The real problem they face is with respect to the size of university, which has 4 000 researchers and approximately 70 000 students.

They suggested that there is a need for a separate office in each of the different sub-units of the university,

The small size of the OTRI creates additional problems for the university in working with SMES

and look out for small firms that may need university support to introduce incremental improvements in their products or processes.

This highlights a critical issue in the university‘s relations with the SMES that characterize the regional economy.

The staff limitations of the technology transfer offices make it difficult for universities to work with small firms and,

With respect to RETA and the other coordinating organizations in the R+D+I system, the problem is that they establish initial contacts between firms and the university,

and the universities to assist the firms in finding the researchers with the appropriate knowledge and skills,

University-Industry Linkages: A More Variegated Perspective While the emphasis in both the regional government‘s strategic plans and in the universities‘own efforts to promote regional development

and innovation seems to focus on technology transfer, commercialization and the spin-off of EBTS, two recent surveys by researchers at the Institute for Advanced Social Studies,

part of the CSIC, provide a more nuanced and variegated picture of the relations between university researchers and private firms, especially SMES in the region.

Only a small part of these relationships is captured in the formal data gathered by the university technology transfer offices.

) The researchers surveyed a total of 765 research teams at Andalusia universities in 2008 based on the official registry of researchers in the public sector that is used by the regional government to allocate research funding.

The majority of these research teams (89 percent) were based at universities, reflecting the predominant role they play in the regional R+D+I system.

both in terms of the specific training of personnel provided by the researchers for firms and internships of university researchers in private firms,

Activities directly related to the exploitation of intellectual property rights resulting from university research occurred in many fewer instances,

collaborative activity, they are not taking into account a number of important types of relationships with industry that are developed in most university systems.

The excessive focus on intellectual property rights provides a disincentive for the many university researchers who participate in the multiple other forms of university-industry collaboration.

They also note that policymakers who rely on the formal data collected by university technology transfer offices are privy to at best the=tip of the iceberg‘in terms of the true dimensions of university-industry collaboration that exist (Ramos-Vielba et al.

The firms were asked about the nature of their university-industry connections. The researchers discovered that 57 percent of the firms in the sample did not engage in any type of collaboration with universities.

The firms in this group tended to be owned smaller, independently and more locally oriented. They were also less innovative,

Among the remaining 305 firms that collaborated with universities, the most frequent type of collaboration involved informal relationship followed by the training of university personnel inside the firm.

Among the other firms, 15 to 25 percent engaged in some form of consultancy relationship with university staff,

5 to 15 per cent of the firms had contract research projects with the universities

and less than 5 per cent of the firms had participated in the creation of spin-off or start-up firms,

However, this sample is highly significant for any discussion of RETA‘s role in enhancing connections between the universities

and relationships between universities and companies and how contacts that occur in different kinds of events are the breeding ground for future interchanges.

In other words, relationships between universities and companies are limited not to R&d transfer, but they depend on the needs

and characteristics of the companies in the part of the regional economy where the universities are located.

It is important for universities and regional coordinating bodies to recognize that R&d activities, especially the commercialization and exploitation of intellectual property derived from university research are just a portion of the firm‘s overall interactions with the higher education system

and that an interest in this aspect only emerges when firms have an absorptive capacity that has been built up through a wide range of previous interactions with universities.

The policy implications of this research suggest the need for greater support on the part of the higher education system for a less R&d-intensive form of interaction between the universities

and the private sector that the latter is capable of managing. This would require the universities to provide greater support for these firms in the form of technical advice

and problem solving in a wide range of activities that are consistent with the DUI form of innovation.

which could ensure that the students being trained in the universities are familiar with the kinds of technical problems that these firms must overcome.

) Table 2. Interactions with universities of Andalusian innovative firms (Percentage of'yes'answer to each type of interaction) Consultancy work 21.8 Patent exploitation 4. 6 Joint ventures

with Universities 3. 7 Commissioning of R&d projects to Universities 14.0 Training of Uni. Postgraduates and internships at firms 27.5 Participation in spin-offs/start-ups 3. 9 Joint R&d projects 22.1 Exchange of personnel 7. 1 Informal networks 32.2

Use or renting of facilities 8. 1 Training of firm workers by the Universities 15.2 Other types of collaborative activities 1. 9 Source:

and how to improve the linkages between universities and innovative firms. Andalusia needs to move beyond the narrow number of R&d performing firms to bring in a broader range of the currently innovative firms and the greater number of potentially innovative ones.

the distinction between the STI and DUI modes of innovation serves to broaden the conception of the different roles that the universities

technological centres and public universities and worked through a network 85 innovation agents situated in the parks, technology centres, main industrial estates,

the universities displayed a generally positive attitude towards the contribution of CITANDALUCÍA, which is not surprising given that its primary mandate is to help university research groups attract EU funding for their institutions.

Some of the universities were more critical of the contribution that RETA makes to promoting linkages between researchers and SMES in the region.

There was a perception that the absence of a formal mechanism for managing RETA‘s relations with the OTRIS

in order to establish connections between university researchers and private firms limits RETA‘s effectiveness in the eyes of the research community (Laurent,

While this perception may reflect a clash between the different institutional structures and cultures of the coordinating agency and the universities,

particularly the universities, and local businesses within the region. However, as was observed several times during our site visits to the universities,

this system operates imperfectly at best. The challenge that RETA faces is that only a very small portion (less than 5 per cent) of the second tier innovative firms that it services are in a position to engage with the universities in collaborative R&d undertakings

or attempts to license and commercialize the outputs of university research. Its role would be more manageable

if it were limited to working with the 300 more innovative companies that have been identified and help them upgrade their innovative capabilities.

Based on the information that was provided to the Study Mission in our meetings at the two universities

which it is seen as a competitor by some of the others organization in the region, such as CTA, the Employers association and even the universities,

Doing so would allow it to be viewed as a valued partner by the public universities through the creation of new mechanisms for linking up the knowledge capabilities of the research groups with the innovative needs of the SMES.

and match it with the innovative needs of local firms The detailed surveys of both university research teams and innovative firms conducted by the team at IESA-CSIC reveal that there are already a substantial number of university researchers

We know from the broader literature that consultancy with university faculty often serves a variety of purposes from the firm‘s perspective.

which private firms test the compatibility of university faculty in terms of potentially engaging with them in contract or collaborative research.

Where the consultancy arrangement works out to the firm‘s satisfaction, studies indicate that they often move on to the next level of involvement with the university researcher

Our study team visits to the universities revealed that the universities themselves are much happier

RETA and the RED-OTRI need to work together to develop a mechanism for linking firms in need of technical assistance with university faculty with the requisite technical

and consulting skills at the nine research universities in the region. The IESA-CSIC surveys might even provide the preliminary basis for constructing such a database

RED-OTRI could use the results of the survey to begin to identify the faculty members on the various research teams at the individual universities with skill sets in demand by the second tier of innovative companies that RETA works with.

This could be rolled out on a university by university basis beginning with one or two,

RETA and RED-OTRI could extend the model to the other universities in the region.

or two universities in the region would have a positive demonstration effect that would make the others want to participate.

and social networks among private firms and university researchers that are viewed as a central component of third generation innovation models.

Promote cooperative education programmes The second recommendation concerns ways to expand the current number of trainees in the university system by introducing some form of cooperative educational program at the universities.

This was made clear in both visits to the universities, as well as in the surveys conducted by the IESA-CSIC research teams.

such as at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, there is solid research evidence which indicates that that the coop students themselves provide a highly effective conduit for transferring research

and specialized knowledge into the private firms and also for bringing the=real world‘perspective of the firms back from their work terms into the university classroom.

The introduction of a full-fledged co-op program at several of the regional universities would require some additional public support,

and expanding university coop programs is the high cost incurred by the university administrations in locating work placements for their students.

In successful coop programs, this is usually accomplished through the provision of several dedicated university personnel to the task of finding these placements in the firms.

and it could use the students as a conduit for feeding problems and concerns of small and medium-sized enterprises back into the teaching activities of the university faculty.

There is also some evidence from the North american experience that coop students can create a demand-pull mechanism to pull technical knowledge out of universities to provide assistance to firms (Bramwell and Wolfe, 2008.

Two ways to achieve this are to expand the presence of incubators in the technology parks as a way of providing more space for university spin-offs and entrepreneurial start-up firms,

as is the case with the new PTA-University of Malaga Campus. However, the impact of the current crisis in the region and the eventual reduction of ERDF funds may constrain the resources available for the construction of physical infrastructure.

or two of the key universities and building a denser set of relationships with both the research community and a subset of the innovative firms it is working with.

as RETA could use the process of building both the database of expert skills in the universities

and the creation of a focused cooperative education program with some of the universities and innovative companies as a means to strengthen the social networks between firms and universities.

with one or two universities and one or two parks, would allow RETA to=scale up‘the model by extending it to other parks and universities in the region.

Early success in one or two cases will create a demand for emulating the approach in other firms and universities across the region.

who are housed in universities, community colleges and other technology transfer organizations across the country. In this respect IRAP performs a networking and coordinating role between firms and other key organizational units in the Canadian innovation system,

some have taught at universities and community colleges, and many of them have worked for IRAP for a considerable period of time.

For further information http://www. nrc-cnrc. gc. ca/eng/ibp/irap. html The Cooperative Education Program at the University of Waterloo Description of the Approach The second

learning model provides more details about the University of Waterloo‘s cooperative education program and particularly, the crucial role that it plays in the local innovation system.

The University of Waterloo currently has the largest cooperative education program in the world, with over 11 000 students (60 percent of the student body) and 3 000 employers, 281 of them local, involved

The founding document for the new university in the 1950s referred to as the Waterloo Plan,

Reasons for success The reflexive relationship between the university and local industry allows the curriculum to keep up with the ever-changing technological frontiers of industry

As a result Waterloo became one of the first universities in Canada to enable students to actively explore

Of particular significance, is the finding that the university performs a critical intermediary function in facilitating the transfer of knowledge between students and local and non-local industry through the Cooperative Education Program (Nelles, Bramwell and Wolfe, 2005.

A number of key benefits of the co-op program were identified in research conducted on the role of the University of Waterloo in the regional economy.

Not only are trained graduates well within the university, they also come with practical experience gained through co-op placements, both in local firms and in firms all over North america.

For instance, in a recent speech at the university during his Microsoft 2005 Tour, Bill gates referred to Waterloo as a special relationship for us.

Most years, we hire more students out of Waterloo than any other university in the world.

Co-op students also act as an important conduit between local firms and the teaching faculty at the university.

and the key reason that many other North american universities have not implemented it to the same degree,

The university invests a considerable amount of its own resources in financing and managing the program.

It has the advantage that these costs have been built into the universities budget virtually since its inception.

and the university‘s students enjoy, which makes it easier to find firms willing to take the students on work placement.

It has proved invaluable in both creating extremely tight linkages between the university and the dense network of technology-based firms in the local economy,

RETA could leverage this existing relationship with the firms to provide a valuable service for the public universities interested in expanding

Battelle Technology Partnership Practice, in cooperation with the Association of University Research Parks undertook an extensive review of the characteristics and trends in research parks over the last 50 years.

and private firm R&d activities were designed as an integral part of the university‘s new campus (Geiger, 2004).

Under this scenario, parks will bring conventional tenants together with new kinds of collaborative networks and lever the intellectual resources of universities more effectively than today.

and universities through co-location in a traditional technology park through a more distributed and virtual form of network.

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Thirdly, in contrast with many other parts of Spain, there has been a reduction in university attendance:

absence of entrepreneurship in universities and in primary and secondary education, technology transfer, and the role of the universities.

Key obstacles for start-ups: social and cultural issues, lack of financial support, and limited enterprising capacity.

Specialization of the 10 Andalusia public universities to transform them into driving forces enriching businesses in the region;

Send 500 youth to the best universities in the world; Train and counsel 5 000 SMES to add innovation to products and services;

As far as university spin-offs are concerned based on the results of the study visit, Andalusia emerges the leading Spanish region in quantitative terms (number of university spin-offs generated.

However, in qualitative terms (such as growth, employment, turnover, etc. the approach could be improved. Major constraints include legal barriers

the region has experienced a reduction in university attendance, declining from 14.7 percent in 1997/8 to 12.2 percent in 2007/8.

The region also recognises the role of universities in this respect; the Andalusia Innovation and Modernisation Plan (PIMA) and the Research, Development and Innovation Plan of Andalusia (PAIDI) include a set of actions designed to encourage entrepreneurship in universities.

The above is a good basis, and yet there is a need to develop a stronger culture of entrepreneurship in a region

primary school, secondary school, VET institutions and universities. This should not be restricted to a technologically-oriented view of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Dedicated (re) training programmes could be established using existing institutions, such as university faculties, research centres, training centres, etc.

This process should also draw the VET and university systems into the discussion, leading to integrated regional policy and support.

universities and municipalities also implement their own business incubator programmes over and above those supported by the region.

for those with a good business idea from the university or the region. Incubator stage:

Introduce forms of support to corporate spinoffs The region‘s spin-off support is currently almost entirely focused on universities,

combined with an integrated set of activities involving schools, vocational educational establishment, universities, etc. The Entrepreneurship Action Plan for Wales offers concepts which are suitable for replication by a large region such as Andalusia

Wolfe, D. 2010) University Industry Collaboration, this publication. CHAPTER V: SME DEVELOPMENT IN ANDALUSIA Introduction SME development and growth is critical to fostering entrepreneurship, job creation and economic development in Andalusia as a result of the dominance of SMES in the regional economy.

While there was a relatively high level of collaboration with universities and government research centres (30 percent) the level of collaboration with other SMES was much lower (19 percent),

and expanded most successfully in Andalusia appear to be those that are to a large extent=born global‘in the sense that the founders of firms are already from the very outset plugged into broader global knowledge and firm networks, through previous university or career experience.

Existing policy agendas seeking to internationationalise these activities by developing links with foreign companies and universities should be encouraged and extended.

and agencies with key firms on a planned basis to create close university-industry linkages to support innovation.

where universities and public agencies are the main institutions through which the regional government is attempting to foster innovation.

, Cardiff University, Glamorgan Building, King EDWARD VII Avenue, Cardiff, Wales, CF10 3w. Email: Sonninor@cardiff. ac. uk Professor Gianluca Brunori, Department of Agronomy and Management of the Agro-ecosystem, Group of Agricultural and Environmental Economics, University of Pisa, Via del

Borghetto, 80-56124 Pisa, Italy. Email: gbrunori@agr. unipi. it Danish low-tech clusters and the‘village economy'Description of the approach Confounding conventional analyses of globalisation, Denmark, with few natural resources and high production costs by international

The cluster is dominated SME, with 60 percent independent firms and 26 percent spin-offs from public research organisations such as universities.

and the emergence of a fledgling life science industry in the late 1980s, stimulated by spin-off companies from three of Scotland‘s universities,

the sector has benefited clearly from the presence of some important internationally renowned universities working in the field of medical, life and biological sciences.

The Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, and to a lesser extent Aberdeen have a long history and track record of research in these fields.

Additionally to the supply of ideas and concepts from university research the Scottish universities have produced generations of well-trained graduates to service the life sciences labour market:

indeed Scotland produces a proportionately larger number of graduates from its universities than other parts of the UK.

The public health service has also been an important consumer for new and innovative medical products,

which is similarly well provided with universities, although may lack the longer tradition of commercialisation of research and development of spin-off companies.

Policy Report, Centre for Public Policy for Regions, University of Glasgow. Brunori, G. 2005 Rural Strategy in Tuscany.

Flexicurity in Denmark, European Employment Observatory, Working Paper, University of Aalborg. Maskell, P. 1997 Learning in the village economy of Denmark.

A Descriptive Analysis. University of Edinburgh: Innogen Working Paper No. 16. Romero, I. and Javier Santos, F. 2007 Firm size and regional linkages:

A Descriptive Analysis. University of Edinburgh: Innogen Working Paper No. 16. Scottish government 2009 Life sciences Key Sector Report, Scottish government, Edinburgh.

hence, it emphasises the role of public and private investments in R&d, improved tertiary education, fostered co-operation between industry and university, stronger entrepreneurship, etc.

the 2006 Innovation and Modernisation Plan for Andalusia (PIMA) which stresses the importance of business enterprise R&d (BERD) investments, industry-university technology transfer,

ii) knowledge-generation organisations (e g. universities; iii) knowledge-transfer organisations (e g. technology centres; iv) system-management organisations (e g.

The number of Andalusia‘s people aged between 25 and 34 with university and post-compulsory education degrees increased between 1998 and 2007 from 25.2%to 32.6%,with Spain moving over the same period from 31.2

%Despite this improvement, Andalusia universities have lost nearly 50 000 students over the 1999-2009 decade.

as both do not require strong university competencies. However in the knowledgebased economy there are greater returns from higher education.

Being the current entrepreneurship and innovation strategies mainly based on the promotion of R&d and industry-university technology transfer

There is indeed a broad supply of entrepreneur training provided by a very heterogeneous array of actors (universities, technology centres, agencies such as ANDALUCIA EMPRENDEAND RETA),

The natural setting for similar programmes would be the university, but amongst the ten public universities of Andalusia only the University of Malaga has established recently an elective entrepreneurship course that has, inter alia, poor attendance.

The low take-up rate of this course may also flag that Andalusia‘s entrepreneurial culture remains feeble,

Contribution of research organisations The three key aspects with regard to the role of universities in the regional entrepreneurship and SME development system can be synthesised as follows:

i) Andalusia‘s public universities are the largest beneficiaries of R&d funding, and have influenced significantly regional development strategies, with some unintended consequences on the alignment between university research priorities and the region‘s strategic priorities;

ii) the regional government favours an intellectual property approach where university research commercialisation is pursued mainly through patenting

and technology licensing; other forms of technology transfer are overlooked consequently; iii) there is room for strengthening linkages between university faculty and smaller firms, a niche in

which RETA and other organisations could play a useful role. In a region like Andalusia where the share of private R&d spending is still 33.6%,well below the Spanish average of 45.5,

%public universities have been the primary source of R&d spending in the region and the main beneficiaries of R&d regional funding, including through the recent PIMA agreement.

This has entailed a privileged position for regional research universities, which have been able to influence significantly the strategic orientations of the regional government as regards R&d and innovation.

A recent report prepared by the Andalusia Ministry of Education for the OECD underscores that there is not enough coordination between the research strategies of public universities and the strategic goals of regional economic and innovation plans

bringing the example of the lack of Andalusia universities prioritising research on biotechnologies, ICT or tourism,

The university research agenda seems rather driven by the interests of the research groups, which is the main academic unit of reference for R&d funding applications.

The commercialisation of university research is pursued primarily by the Andalusia government through the regional network of Technology Transfer Offices (OTRI),

which are charged with facilitating the relationships between local firms and regional universities. The OTRI network prioritises patenting,

with the University of Seville producing 24 patents over the last year. Nevertheless, there are some unbalances to address.

First of all, the University of Seville clearly takes the lion‘s share in industry-university technology transfer,

apart from Malaga and Granada, the other regional universities have a very minor role in this activity.

Secondly, universities and their OTRI offices need to look beyond a mere intellectual property approach.

Through less R&d-intensive forms of industry-university collaboration, the regional technology transfer offices will be able to reach out to a wider number of both faculty members and enterprises,

but that would still benefit from a stronger collaboration with university (e g. through consulting). In this respect, RETA could play an important role by building up together with OTRI a faculty skills database that could be matched with the existing dataset of=innovative needs‘of Andalusia firms.

but explore the wider spectrum of industry-university collaborative options available. Entrepreneurship and start-ups Andalusia innovation and modernisation strategies (i e.

Finally, while university spinoffs have received much attention, less has been given to corporate spinoffs. At the time of the peer review visit there did not seem to be many activities ongoing in this area,

and could indeed be matched with another database collecting the skills of university faculty members so as to ease knowledge transfer between HEIS and firms, including of small size.

The network of university technology transfer offices (OTRI) appears most suited to taking up this challenge together with RETA.

Key future opportunities Developing entrepreneurship skills to upgrade local industries Universities are being geared up to be conduits for knowledge and innovation in the new economy but as the OECD study reports, inappropriate

Students still tend to go outside of the Andalusian public university system for advanced business-related training,

and the experience of the University of Malaga‘s entrepreneurship programme show how entrepreneurship courses in the region tend to go undersubscribed.

Pursuing a twofold strategy in industry-university collaboration Universities face the usual conundrum of one the one hand, enhancing their own research capabilities to move up global university rankings

Attracting talent as a component of the university's future strategies The organisational arrangements, especially for R&d funding place a considerable emphasis on improving university capacity for research.

The enhanced capabilities for university research can lead to regional universities being able to attract talent, both students and faculty, from elsewhere.

Such an objective should be realised as best as possible as it will help develop and draw in to the region a greater pool of human capital.

Universities may not be able to resolve these difficulties themselves and this is where careful planning of the work of intermediary agencies can be particularly useful.

Think of promoting corporate spin-offs as an alternative to university spinoffs with stronger industry and market knowledge. SME development Reassess the competitive prospects of firms in technology parks,

This will include involvement in future cooperative education programmes and retention of talented foreign students from local universities in technology parks.

including by strengthening the relationships of the latter with local universities

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