Innovation Area Development Partnership (IADP)

The university as a catalyst in innovation district development

In this paper, we focus on the role of universities in innovation districts. Regarding the growing interest in innovation districts, the question arises if an innovation district can do without a university. Or, the other way round, can a university campus be a good starting point for an innovation district? Can an innovation district be successful without a university? In which way can a university function as a catalyst in innovation district development?

 The outcomes of research and recent developments suggest that it is relevant to have a university or an annexe of a university in an innovation district, as distance does matter. However, there are yet no hard research outcomes that make it clear that the success of an innovation district is dependent upon a university. Apart from that, the cases described here, in short, suggest that the establishment of a university or annexe can help the development of an innovation district by creating trust and contributing to a positive image of the development.

Room for Knowledge Development: from Science Park to Innovation District

Any services and knowledge economy includes numerous innovative companies and institutions that are engaged in research, data, knowledge and information and the acquisition and transmission thereof. For a large number of these organisations an office location is sufficient. However, when it comes to basic research – especially in terms of beta disciplines – there are often more stringent requirements. With a view to cooperation opportunities, appearance and work environment quality, some of these companies have a need for specific job site concepts that capitalize on these aspects, such as science parks and industrial campuses. Moreover, the past two decades have seen the rise of new concepts that will discussed in more detail in this paper.

Your own industrial innovation campus

For today’s businesses, it is crucial to work together on innovation with other firms and organisations. Technology has become so specialised that no one can afford to do everything on their own. Co-creation and co-development with partner firms, institutions and universities are essential for being successful. Most new, successful products are the result of collaborative work between engineers, marketing experts, designers and often colleagues and academics as well. The benefits are lower costs, faster time to market and higher return on investment.

In this era of technology and innovation, science and technology parks are growing in number at an increasing pace since the first one was created in the 1950s. Less well known is the development which involves medium-sized and large innovative firms establishing their own ‘science park’. We call this an industrial innovation campus.