Triple Helix Indicators of Knowledge-Based Innovation Systems

TL;DR

This paper discusses the Triple Helix model involving industry, academia, and government, emphasizing complex interactions and the need for statistical evaluation of institutional synergies in knowledge-based innovation systems.

Contribution

It introduces a framework for measuring and analyzing the dynamic interactions among the three key sectors in innovation systems using indicators.

Findings

Empirical evidence of rich ecologies balancing differentiation and integration.

The importance of statistical tools to evaluate institutional synergies.

Complex dynamics arise from tri-lateral relations in innovation systems.

Abstract

When two selection environments operate upon each other, mutual shaping in a co-evolution along a particular trajectory is one possible outcome. When three selection environments are involved, more complex dynamics can be expected as a result of interactions involving bi-lateral and tri-lateral relations. Three selection environments are specified in the Triple Helix model: (1) wealth generation (industry), (2) novelty production (academia), and (3) public control (government). Furthermore, this model somewhat reduces the complexity by using university-industry-government relations for the specification of the historical conditions of the non-linear dynamics. One can no longer expect a one-to-one correspondence between institutions and functions; a statistics is needed for the evaluation of how, for how long, and to what extent institutional arrangements enhance synergies among different selection environments. The empirical contributions to this Triple Helix issue point in the direction of "rich ecologies": the construction of careful balances between differentiation and integration among the three functions.