ABSTRACT
James Rowe has described how the pace of change in modern processes of globalization has accentuated the need for regions to market their competitive advantage based on regional fundamentals of production, trade and the provision of service. This led him to argue that ‘the most important activity for regional economic development is the creation of competitive advantage’ (Rowe, 2005, p. 1). A substantial literature has addressed the way in which regions might strengthen local innovation systems to assist in this task of ongoing enterprise and creativity, as explained in other chapters of this book. The purpose of this chapter is to survey the ways in which universities are able to assist and encourage regional development. As the quotation at the head of this chapter notes, universities make distinctive contributions to regional development through their research, educational and local animation activities. Indeed, Karlsson and Zhang (2001, p. 180) have suggested that ‘research-oriented universities are to the knowledge economy what coal and iron mines were to the industrial economy’. This chapter develops that theme under three headings: universities as producers of new knowledge; universities as educators of advanced knowledge; and universities as animators of regions and sectors.
