Summary

With the transition to the knowledge economy, regions are increasingly looking to universities as sources of knowledge for innovation and growth. Meanwhile, universities have increasing ambitions to contribute to development, as reflected in the increased attention to the third mission and the impact of research. However, the role of universities in regional innovation and development processes is multi-faceted and play out across all of the universities’ missions and in interaction with industry, government and broader societal stakeholders across various scales.

The Role of Universities in Innovation and Regional Development (RUNIN) is the topic of a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Innovative Training Network of 14 Early-Career Researchers across seven universities and nine regional development agencies in Europe from 2016 to 2021. The 14 PhD projects include both the perspective of universities as well as that of the regions, creating a broad body of new knowledge on the relationship between them.

The project is now ending and the network invites you to a two hour webinar on 25th February, 11:00 - 13:00 CET (10:00 - 12:00 GMT) with a mix of presentations and facilitated discussions, to learn about the results of the project and their implications for innovation, regional development and higher education policy.

The network focuses on how universities can contribute to innovation, regional development and policy through four main themes:

• People and networks: How do universities attract talent to their regions and develop networks between academics and regional industries?
• Policies and interventions: How do universities collaborate with regional authorities to develop regional innovation policy?
• Places and territories: How do the role of universities vary across different regional contexts and different scales of interaction?
• Practices and governance: How are universities changing their practices in order to further their roles in innovation and regional development?

For more information about the project, please visit its website: https://runinproject.eu/.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No 722295.