From Ivory Tower to Living Lab: Accelerating the Use of University Knowledge

Abstract

University-industry collaboration in research projects has received little attention in studies on the performance of universities in bringing knowledge to market. This situation holds also true for the differences between regions and for understanding the hampering factors in collaboration, including regional ones. To fill this gap, in this paper I attempt to characterize the outcomes of technology projects-in terms of market introduction, continuation, stagnation, and failure-and to identify the barriers, particularly regional ones. I also propose an extended use of a tool that facilitates and accelerates market introduction-that is, living labs. The study draws on a database of 370 technology projects covering two different regions in the Netherlands and on in-depth data of 51 of such projects in a limited number of technologies.

Designing a Resilient Waterscape Using a Living Lab and Catalyzing Polycentric Governance

“…动型创新转变的工作方式 [58] [59] 。因此，"生活实验室"常被应用于行业 市场评估领域，以使产品和服务实现快速商业化 [59]~ [62] 。 然而，"生活实验室"的出现和发展恰好可以协调各利益相关方 之间复杂甚或充满矛盾的诉求。于是，"生活实验室"概念逐渐扩展 到了包括可持续能源和医疗在内的其他领域 [63] 。在社会科学领域，"生 活实验室"概念最早出现在20世纪90年代的一门大学课程概述中，修 读这门课程的学生会在市中心附近开展实际落地项目 [64] 。由此可见， "生活实验室"包含技术和社会两个层面 [65] 。 近年来，"生活实验室"作为一种参与过程被应用于景观规划领 域，以使利益相关者参与到景观解决方案(如NBS)的共同规划、设计 和验证过程中 [65] 。不同于传统的多方参与，"生活实验室"在整个规划 过程中仅赋权于一个相对稳定的利益相关者团体 [66]~ [68] 。桑德拉•福梅 斯特等 [69] 发现，迄今为止，大多数利用"生活实验室"进行景观规划的 研究均通过所谓的"城市生活实验室"解决城市问题 [70] 。尽管"生活 实验室"的要素(如合作生产 [71] 或合作学习 [72] )已被用于减灾预警中， 但其应用潜力尚未被充分挖掘。尽管"生活实验室"拥有丰富的外延 (表2)，但它们都呈现出某些一致的核心特征(表3)。 "生活实验室"包括几种不同的参与步骤(表4)，如萨坡•利米 宁 [73] 将其分为4个步骤(框架一)，汉斯•谢弗等 [74] 和哈维尔•加西 亚•古兹曼等 [75] 提出5个步骤(框架二)，克里斯•施特恩等 [68] 列出8个…”

“…Yet, the emergence and propagation of the Living Lab was also fuelled by the need to satisfy complex and sometimes conflicting stakeholder views. The Living Lab accordingly expanded to other fields, including sustainable energy and healthcare [63] . In social sciences, the Living Lab concept was first introduced in the early 1990s to describe a university course in which students undertook real-world projects in an inner-city neighbourhood [64] .…”

Entrepreneurial Risk-Taking in Sustainable Energy: University Spin-Off Firms and Market Introduction in Northwest Europe

“…With regard to the National Innovation System (NIS), national conditions may include assets like entrepreneurial and risk-taking culture and national supportive schemes of incentives and venture capital, preventing or mitigating risks [93][94][95][96][97][98]. As indicated by countries' positions in the European Innovation Union Scoreboard [96], Norway is assigned the label of Moderate Innovator and the Netherlands that of Innovation Follower, while Denmark, Finland, and Sweden are qualified as Innovation Leaders.…”

Living Labs as boundary-spanners between Triple Helix actors

“…In many economies and societies, the Triple Helix model, however, does not work satisfactory due to the influence of barriers between the actors involved (Geuna and Muscio, 2009;Bruneel et al, 2010;van Geenhuizen, 2013) and lack of using interfaces (Leydesdorff and Meyer, 2007). Though improvement has been observed, Triple Helix interaction and knowledge flows are still facing a division into two 'realms', the research community and the business community.…”

“…Relationship conflicts are stronger connected to personal affinity and preferences. Thus, a weak affinity of university researchers with applied studies and with the market may act as a main barrier causing delay or failure of commercialization (Van Geenhuizen, 2013). We mention also as barriers: different culture and 'language' and different technology level, but also different power positions, like between SMEs and multinational companies (MNCs).…”