"City regions, advantages and innovation"

Abstract

This report is one part of the dissemination from the project "City regions, knowledge bases and innovation support system" (CKI)(2006-2009) which has been funded by the Research Council of Norway within the program "Demokrati, styring og regionalitet". Data, analysis and text to this report have been produced by Heidi Aslesen (Nifu-Step/BI), Frants Gundersen (NIBR), Arne Isaksen (University of Agder), Ove Langeland (NIBR) and Knut Onsager (NIBR). Onsager has been the project manager.

Where is synergy indicated in the Norwegian innovation system? Triple-Helix relations among technology, organization, and geography

“…The comparison between public R&D expenditure and the synergy of the knowledge base provides another negative correlation in the case of Norway. In our opinion, these findings confirm the conclusions of Onsager et al [28] and OECD [32] that areas in Norway with high concentrations of knowledge institutions (and hence a high level of higher education) seem to live in 'separate' worlds, uncoupled from the needs of the industry. Easy access to public research funding through networks and co-location with research councils and political decision makers makes the transaction costs of engagement with fellow academics lower than those with industry [31].…”

“…A further study of qualitative characteristics of various regional innovation systems in Norway can be found in [52,53]. Onsager et al [28] focused on the city regions in Norway, and Asheim & Conen [54] focused on the knowledge base of regional innovation systems in the Nordic countries. Narula [55] investigated innovation systems and 'inertia' in R&D locations in Norway.…”

“…An OECD report [32], analyzing the roles of knowledge institutions in the Trondheim region, concluded that in spite of being Scandinavia's largest independent research institution and technical university, there is a need to 'broaden the innovation dynamics' and increasing the absorptive capacity within this region. The existence of fragmentation [28] and 'parallel worlds' [32] within the Norwegian innovation system, can be considered as indications of redundancy rather than synergy.…”

“…Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff [1; p. 111] used Norway as an example for the Triple-Helix I model, where the strong state governs academia and industry. Onsager et al [28] reported that the largest city regions in Norway seem to have limited capacity to utilize their resource advantages and potential synergy. Herstad et al [29] concluded that firms in the capital region (Oslo) are less engaged in innovative collaboration than firms in the rest of the country, whereas Isaksen and Wiig Aslesen [30] argued that the knowledge organizations in Oslo do not (yet) function as hubs in a wider innovation system.…”

FoU- og innovasjonsstatistikken

“…Utvidelsen gir bedre data om FoU og innovasjon i foretak med under 10 sysselsatte (ned til 5 sysselsatte), og bedre muligheter for å foreta regionale analyser. NIBR har benyttet deler av statistikkgrunnlaget allerede i enkelte prosjekter (Gundersen og Sørlie 2009, Langeland 2008, Onsager et. al 2010.…”