EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network

The Triple Helix

Introduction

What are the nature, extent and consequences of the 'triple helix' of relationships between academe, the government and industry?

Description

Today the roles and interests of universities, corporations and government are intimately intertwined in a complex combination of financial, intellectual, personal and legal relationships.This study presents data regarding the nature, extent and management and policy suggestions regarding the disclosure and management of relationships among the various sectors.

Conclusions

The modern scientific enterprise is composed of a set of complex, deeply integrated financial relationships between government, industry and university based scientists and their organisations.
There are different types of relationships: AIR, academic industry relationships and GIR, government industry relationships.
There are no comprehensive, systematically collected, publicly available data that could be used to explore the nature and extent of relationships between government, scientists and administrators and industry.
These relationships have benefits for individual scientists, their institutions and the overall progress of science.
These relationships have risks including misconduct, increased secrecy and bias in the reporting of results.
The existence of both risks and benefits suggest that an optimal strategy for both government and academia is to manage GIRs and AIRs in such a way as to minimize the risks while preserving these relationships.

Suggestions

Standardise disclosure policies and norms, developed and adopted by the academic community.
All institutions should establish specific, mandatory penalties for failing to disclose relationships with industry as specified by institutional policies.
Institutions should adopt a uniform policy that prohibits suppression of data.

Contact info

AEI-Brookings Joint Centre
Eric G. Campbell

Publication date

25/08/2004

Researcher

Eric G. Campbell, Greg Koski and David Blumenthal

Links

AEI-Brookings Joint Centre

The Triple Helix (English, PDF, 280 KB)

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment

Keywords

Research & innovation