Universities and Local Economic Development: An Appraisal of the Issues and Practices

This collection of papers is dedicated to the memory of Michel de Bernardy who died in February 2002 in a climbing accident in the mountains above Grenoble. Michel was a first-class academic whose recent work specialised on the relationship between research in science and engineering and territorial development. Key challenges facing universities are the subject of a current discussion paper published by the Department of Education and Skills on the Future of Universities (www.dfes.gov.uk/highereducation/discussion.shtml). This special issue contributes to the debate by reviewing issues relating to universities’ role in local economies. The papers are drawn from experiences in the UK, Italy, Canada and Sweden and provide some opportunity to compare political agendas, policies and practice in the UK with those in other countries. The background to the theme of this special issue is the increasing academic concern about the expectations placed on universities about their role in stimulating economic development. Since the election of the Labour Government in 1997, policy discourses have been concerned with universities’ contributions to regional development while remaining committed to previous Conservative governments’ agendas of commercialisation of research both through increasing links with industry and through academic entrepreneurship. As a consequence, Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) (established in 1999) have appropriated universities as adjuncts to their regional economic strategies (e.g. SEEDA) and in some cases regional