Redundancy Generation in University-Industry-Government Relations: The Triple Helix Modeled, Measured, and Simulated

TL;DR

This paper models, measures, and simulates redundancy generation in university-industry-government relations using a Triple Helix framework, Lotka-Volterra equations, and Fourier analysis, with empirical application to Japanese co-authorship data.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mathematical model for redundancy in Triple Helix relations, combining Lotka-Volterra equations and Fourier analysis, and applies it to real-world co-authorship data.

Findings

Relations' strength and frequency are independent parameters.

Different frequency components can be distinguished and interpreted.

Empirical analysis of Japanese co-authorship demonstrates the model's applicability.

Abstract

A Triple Helix (TH) of bi- and trilateral relations among universities, industries, and governments can be considered as an ecosystem in which uncertainty can be reduced auto-catalytically. The correlations among the distributions of relations span a vector space in which two vectors (P and Q) represent "sending" and "receiving," respectively. These vectors can also be understood in terms of the generation versus reduction of uncertainty in the communication field that results from interactions among the three (bi-lateral) communication channels. We specify a set of Lotka-Volterra equations between the vectors that can be solved. Redundancy generation can then be simulated and the results can be decomposed in terms of the TH components. Among other things, we show that the strength and frequency of the relations are independent parameters. Different components in terms of frequencies in triple-helix systems can also be distinguished and interpreted using Fourier analysis of the empirical time-series. The case of co-authorship relations in Japan is analyzed as an empirical example; but "triple contingencies" in an ecosystem of relations can also be considered more generally as a model for redundancy generation by providing meaning to the (Shannon-type) information in inter-human communications.