“Betting on Science or Muddling Through the Network” : Two Universities and one Innovation Commission

• Since the mid 1990s the OECD, the EU and many national innovation policies have pointed to universities as the most important direct providers of solutions to use as sources of innovations for growth and societal welfare. Also, through their respective governments, universities are exposed to rather detailed requirements on how to fulfil the increased direct utilisation of research results. This paper takes a closer look at how two internationally recognised universities from the same country, namely Sweden, addressed the innovation commission. A case study investigates how the Karolinska Institute and Uppsala University interpreted and implemented the Swedish government’s commission on an increased utilisation of publicly funded research for innovation. The main finding is that both universities’ ways of fulfilling this commission are more directed towards ‘betting’ on potential innovations than on ‘muddling through’ the context of innovation.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Innovation

Policy

commercialization of science

network embedding

universities

innovation strategy

TECHNOLOGY

TEKNIKVETENSKAP

Engineering Science

Teknisk fysik

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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