Oasis in the desert? Bridging academics’ collaboration activities as a conduit for global knowledge flows to peripheral regions

Abstract

Peripheral regions, like others, require a sustained flow of global knowledge to stimulate innovation and economic growth. Unfortunately, the dearth of innovative firms in these regions hampers foreign knowledge attraction. Nevertheless, academics are recognized as potential agents to perform such a role considering their embeddedness in diverse collaboration ties. As feasible as this may seem, prior research has not thoroughly examined this proposition. This paper, therefore, investigates how the collaboration activities of bridging academics facilitate the flow of knowledge to peripheral regions. Employing a case study of academics in a peripheral region in the Netherlands, it also identifies the mechanisms enhancing knowledge flows. The findings indicate academics tend to have more collaborations with partners in academia and industry than other sectors. Additionally, they use various pathways to establish cooperation relations. Lastly, the mobility of researchers and collaborative projects constitute the widely used channels for knowledge transfer. The implications of these findings for universities and policy-makers include the need to devote particular attention to cooperation ties of faculty; and the assessment of the knowledge needs of organizations in a region and connecting them with academics with the right expertise. ARTICLE HISTORY

Bridging Academics’ Roles in Knowledge Diffusion in Sustainability-Driven Public–Private Partnerships: A Case Study of the SDGs Workshop in Central Japan

“…A code was assigned to each participant while considering their category and affiliated clusters, as shown in Table A2 in Appendix A. The collected data were analyzed using the thematic analysis approach [8,23]. Each author independently performed the thematic analysis process, and the results were consolidated to ensure the validity of the analysis.…”

“…However, Atta-Owusu's [8] quantitative data model did not provide applicable prescriptions for supporting BAs in other contexts. We believe that the model justified the role of BAs in knowledge diffusion but overlooked the development process and structure of collaborative arrangements.…”

“…Our study extends on Trippl [6] and Atta-Owusu [8] studies by investigating the ways in which BAs enable partnership among stakeholders at the global and regional levels in tackling sustainability challenges. We examined the structure and process of BAs that led to collaborative arrangements to better understand knowledge diffusion among stakeholders in sustainability-oriented PPPs.…”

“…Although universities represent institutional knowledge hubs at the macro level, the concept of BAs explains how the mobility of academic scientists individually contributes to knowledge transfer and socioeconomic growth [6]. Atta-Owusu [8] explored the concept of BAs and investigated their collaborative activities, specifically exploring how BAs led collaborative projects that facilitated the flow of knowledge to peripheral regions. However, Owusu's model falls short of providing real prescriptions for supporting BAs.…”

What drives university-industry collaboration? Research excellence or firm collaboration strategy?

“…In addition, forging knowledge exchange linkages with a local university is considered to improve creativity, problem solving, and R&D capabilities at the level of the firm (Perkmann et al, 2011). Furthermore, universities contribute to the regional knowledge pool by transmitting knowledge and attracting talent from their networks outside the region (Atta-Owusu, 2019;Bramwell & Wolfe, 2008). These and other roles universities perform make them potentially significant actors in regional innovation.…”