ABSTRACT
The contributions to this book offer an interconnected set of reflections on the collaborations, synergies and interactions between higher education and the creative economy in a range of cities, regions and national landscapes. Read together, they highlight the limited research available that specifically addresses the opportunities and challenges in this area, and make the case for a better understanding of the practices, as well as theories, at the crossroads between academia, the creative economy and public policy. Furthermore, the book proposes a new understanding that goes beyond a recognition of the cultural impact of university presence in specific locations, to raise questions about how this presence – through shared communities of practice, learning spaces and intermediation – stimulates both creative human capital and the development of shared third spaces for research and innovation, as well as tensions and frictions resulting from varying levels of power, interest and influence. We believe this framework can be a useful tool through which to understand collaboration, and explore the challenges and future scenarios of creative engagement across and beyond academia in different geographical contexts. However, we believe that the findings from the chapters also highlight the need for this new research agenda to prioritise three key dimensions that need further investigation:
the relationship to issues of power;
the value of creative education and creative human capital;
the broader societal mission of universities.
