Keynote speeches

Prof. Bart Van Looy: Entrepreneurial Universities: Looking back and forward.

Within this contribution, Bart Van Looy revisits some major themes that have been addressed in the field (impact of entrepreneurial universities, trade-offs between different objectives and activities, antecedents of entrepreneurial performance…). In addition, he will highlight some (potential) avenues for future research and illustrate the relevance of text mining and machine learning algorithms for tackling questions related to the presence of science in technological activities and the (potential) occurrence of anti-common effects.

Prof. Susan Cozzens: Research Universities as Equalizing Institutions

Inequality is a striking feature of globalized society. Although inequality between countries is shrinking, inequalities within countries are growing, and inequality between the world’s households is not falling, despite economic growth. Where do universities fit in this picture? Historically, they have evolved from elite to mass institutions in many countries. As they become engines of economic change, however, are they also remaining positive forces for equality?

From a sociological point of view, the question is about mobility: the role of educational attainment in mobility and the openness of higher education systems. From a research policy point of view, however, it is about the orientation of research agendas, which may produce benefits that are narrowly or broadly distributed. Does the public service mission of the research university balance its increasing orientation to industrial innovation? Or is the knowledge it produces increasingly irrelevant to addressing problems and building capacities at the margins of society? If the latter, does its educational function rebalance the equation?

Our research team has been studying innovation and inequality over the past decade through a number of specific examples: innovation in water and sanitation in the global South; case studies of the distributional consequences of emerging technologies, in both North and South; and early examination of the research and development agenda of nanotechnology in the Grand Challenge areas of water, energy, and agri-food. This lecture will examine the roles of research universities in these cases in the light of their pro-poor, egalitarian, and equalizing functions.

Prof. Paloma Sanchez: The UAM (Autonomous University of Madrid) – Accenture Chair in Economics and Management of Innovation: Lessons to learn.

Accenture Spain is funding a Chair at the Autonomous University of Madrid to encourage teaching and research in Economics and Management of Innovation. The Chair supports the Master and PhD Programmes in this scientific field. This Chair case will be used to present the advantages and eventual shortcomings of university-industry cooperation, the conditions for success, and the main lessons to learn.