Abstract
The notion of Public–Private Partnerships (P3) is ambiguous. To date, however, there has been little emphasis on universities in this connection, and their roles (if any) are still somewhat unclear. The question we ask, therefore, is: What is or could be the role of universities in P3s? In this chapter, the first part is dedicated to the discussion and clarification of the concept of public–private partnerships. The role of universities if and when actively participating in ‘life outside the ivory tower’ is addressed. These partnerships are also discussed in a regional context. With the point of departure in innovation theory, we combine ‘sustainable development’ with the Regional System of Innovation approach to propose a new concept – Sustainable Regional Innovation System – in which regional initiatives such as Public–Private–(Academic) Partnerships play an integrated role, not least in the context of ‘learning and innovation for sustainable development’. Two cases are presented to underline the importance of what is signified as Public–Private–Academic Partnerships (PPAP); i.e., partnerships, where universities are given – or take on themselves – a specific role. In such partnerships, we argue, mediation is a major function of universities, including both the provision of new knowledge and the conciliation of opposing views, and universities thus act as catalytic and institutionalizing entities.
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Notes
- 1.
Until the Danish structural reform, this included the county’s contribution towards the running of the network’s secretariat.
- 2.
The local government reform created a new map of Denmark; 98 municipalities replaced the previous 271, the 13 counties were abolished and five new regions created, and a new division of tasks between local, regional and state authorities took place. Cf., e.g., http://www.sum.dk/publikationer/government_reform_in_brief/index.htm.
- 3.
A note on the terminology: It may be problematic to use the term ‘capital’ in the way we do here since it often refers to a stock which can grow or decline. Because of the diversity, incomparability and complexity of the elements in these four stocks it is often impossible to measure the size and change of them in meaningful ways. For example, social capital, which is defined as a set of rules, habits and norms, is very difficult to imagine as a stock, and how would one aggregate climate, oil and biodiversity into a single stock of natural capital? However, the use of the notion of capital has become quite common in these connections and we may think of it rather as a collection of different things than as a homogenous stock.
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Lehmann, M., Christensen, P., Johnson, B. (2010). Partnerships and Sustainable Regional Innovation Systems: Special Roles for Universities?. In: Sarkis, J., Cordeiro, J., Vazquez Brust, D. (eds) Facilitating Sustainable Innovation through Collaboration. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3159-4_3
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