Page 94 - A Handbook for Academia, Industry and Policymakers: Reinforcing the Innovation-Employability Nexus in the Mediterranean

94 REINFORCING THE INNOVATION-EMPLOYABILITY NEXUS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN REINFORCING THE INNOVATION-EMPLOYABILITY NEXUS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN 95

collaborative doctorates. As a result, academia- and institutional milieu. Yet, it is important to
industry knowledge-exchange initiatives beyond acknowledge that: (a) academia understands its
the research and the patent-licence-idea model role in fuelling innovation more than the general
have become a complex, multifaceted, multi-level innovation discourse may suggest. While the
and multi-actor endeavour . To accommodate political discourse promotes HEI’s contribution to
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these initiatives, knowledge transfer policies regional innovation in terms of economic value,
Knowledge Exchange have expanded to ensure systematic impact and in practice, universities strongly emphasise the

From Knowledge Transfer to broader synergies. societal challenges linked to technological and
economic innovation, prioritising questions of
Multi-Actor Co-Creation Complex interplays within sustainable use of resources or social equality
the ecosystem (as an example) ; and (b) academia can only
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deliver on the new role if certain prerequisites
For knowledge exchange to support innovation are met, for instance adequate research funding.
and employability, complex interplay between the In the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean, most
many different actors of the system is required. national authorities are striving to raise research
ever has it been clearer that our societies depend on In this dynamic setting, all actors – academia, funding from a regional average of 0.6% (2017)
technological, scientific, and social innovation to address industry, policymakers, and intermediaries – of GDP to 1% , while R&D funding in OECD
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N current and future challenges and that the solutions will result have to work together for the system to grow and countries is at 2.6% (2018) of GDP1.
produce the desired results (see Table 4, p. 97).
from building bridges across disciplines, institutions, cultures,
and countries. With the growing demand for innovation, research ACADEMIA Public
institutes and universities are confronted with expectations and Traditionally, the university’s mission has focused Research funding in the
Southern and Eastern
demands that position them as a central player of the Triple Helix on two areas: research and teaching. Academia’s
role in knowledge production has placed it at the
Model of Innovation 82–84 . This new and challenging role not only centre of the innovation and competitiveness Mediterranean region is
calls for research institutions to be closely interlinked with its agenda. This emerging centrality is indissolubly
academic partners, but also requires them to become embedded interlinked with its new role as a central actor 0.6%
in the coordination of innovation networks .
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in the regional and national ecosystem amidst the many different However, there is an overwhelming consensus
actors that range from industry and policymakers to civil society that academia’s most important contribution to
organisations and investors. This chapter explores how academia regional innovation is to educate students and (2017) of GDP
prepare them for their future professional role.
can establish stronger interdisciplinary and cross-institutional Central concerns relate to quality, relevance (e.g.

connections going beyond the short-term project-based knowledge do the graduates have the relevant skills and compared
transfer. This requires academia to acknowledge that it is not the competencies to match the needs of current with
and future challenges) and mindset (e.g. the
sole source of knowledge, enter relationships with external actors, entrepreneurial mindset).
and develop solutions together with other knowledge actors in the

ecosystem. The second dimension of the university’s role 2.6%
in fuelling regional innovation consists of (co-
) producing relevant knowledge. As a motor of
regional (or national) innovation, the university
has to look for an intersection or balance
Large-scale scientific and societal problems tend the active promotion of knowledge and innovation between international research and regional
to be extremely complex, have multiple causes, ecosystems as engines for growth and social relevance. For instance, the Consliglio Nazionale
and will never have one perfect solution. As the development . Although licences, patents, delle Ricerche (CNR) based in Italy, plays a
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required expertise to address such complex and spin-offs are important tangible results of key role in this process through development
problems is both specialised and scattered, commercialising research, there are numerous policies as a strategic partner in innovation and
the search for solutions increasingly occurs in other channels in higher education institutions competitiveness of the production system both in
open knowledge and innovation systems that (HEIs) where knowledge exchange is increasingly traditional sectors and emerging new ones. CNR,
involve diverse actors from academia, industry relevant, for instance, in student and faculty and other national research institutes, consolidate
and society, involving multiple inputs, resource intersectoral mobility, entrepreneurship and nurture scientific research thus encouraging
commitments, and motives. This has resulted in education, curriculum development and its implementation into the social, industrial