Constructing Objects and Transforming Experimental Systems

Abstract

The main contribution of this paper for social studies of scienti c practice is to use and further elaborate the concept of experimental system. It is expanded from mere epistemic concerns to also incorporate the built-in practicality and societal relevance of scienti c research. For this, an analysis of object construction by a potato-biotechnolog y research group is presented. The group's object of activity is conceptualized as a dual one comprising both the epistemic and applied objectives . The application object points to the virus-resistant cultivated potato under construction, the epistemic object to the knowledge on the virus-resistanc e mechanism. Two major phases of the group's work are perceived as distinct experimental systems. The transition between them is analysed in terms of a gradual evolution characterised by network collaboration, ad hoc improvization, resistance, opportunism and informal interaction.

Intermediation in intermediation: triple helix innovation and intermediary legal organisation

“…The article approaches the institutionalisation of triple helix intermediation from a systemstheoretical perspective rather than through empirical investigation-although it also includes an analysis and discussion of Tuunainen's well-documented qualitative research and case study of a failed 'attempt by [a university research] group to operate as a research group-firm hybrid entity within the University of Helsinki in 1998-2000' (Tuunainen 2004: 43; see also Tuunainen (2001Tuunainen ( , 2002Tuunainen ( , 2005a). The analysis and discussion of the case study then serves as a jumping-off point to introduce a bifurcated model of triple helix intermediation and its legal organisation in order to supplement existing theoretical and empirical research on the former and to make a first, small effort at compensating for the current scarcity of research on the latter.…”

“…And their functional and organisational interjection among and between the university-industrygovernment helices should be carefully planned and executed-in particular, through (i) the legal institution of a CRC entity (or of multiple entities, as the case may require) separate from the sponsoring helices and (ii) the advance legal ordering of the rights and responsibilities of the promoting helices as CRC stakeholders and (most likely, also) owners of the respective CRC entity (or entities) (see Garrett-Jones et al (2013)). In this regard, the well-documented and well-developed case study of the parallel academic and entrepreneurial endeavours of a biotechnology research group at the University of Helsinki in Finland discussed by Tuunainen (Tuunainen 2001(Tuunainen , 2002(Tuunainen , 2004(Tuunainen , 2005a may serve as a useful, real-life example of the steep cost and inefficiency of under-planned and under-institutionalised innovation intermediation:…”

“…Thus, in an effort to support and inform the evolution of sui-generis supra-helical best practices for 'innovation in innovation' (Etzkowitz 2003a) triple helix projects, this article focuses on two interrelated aspects of triple helix hybridity which are less developed, if not, neglected (Suvinen et al 2010;Howells 2006;van der Meulen et al 2005) within the current triple helix literature as well as the larger knowledge intermediation and innovation intermediation literatures. First, based on a well-documented case study of a failed research group-firm hybrid within the University of Helsinki (Tuunainen 2001(Tuunainen , 2002(Tuunainen , 2004(Tuunainen , 2005a, an organisational model aimed at institutionalising supra-helical, fourth-party (i.e. beyond mere inter-helical, threeparty) intermediation is proposed and examined for purposes of optimising trilateral university-industry-government networks.…”

Advancing Understanding about the Relationship between Science, University and Society – An Introduction

“…As empirical research shows, combining theoretical understanding and societal use is not an extraordinary feature of scientifi c practice but, rather, a quite common attribute of much of the current science (e.g. Hessels, 2010;Miettinen et al 2015;Powell et al, 2005;Tuunainen, 2001).…”

Hybrid practices? Contributions to the debate on the mutation of science and university

“…I shall also briefly revisit my previous empirical research that addressed the work of a plant-biotechnology research group under the auspices of a traditional Finnish university (Tuunainen 2001(Tuunainen , 2002(Tuunainen , 2005). By elaborating on a broad body of scholarship in science and technology studies (e.g.…”