Maria Abreu

Policies to enhance the ‘hidden innovation’ in services: evidence and lessons from the UK

More than 75% of the UK economy is based on services. Knowledge-based services generate more than five times as much value added for the UK economy as advanced manufacturing. Yet, there are persistent gaps in understanding the innovative performance of services. Using Fourth UK Community Innovation Survey (CIS4) data and the results of a detailed case study analysis, this article helps to fill this gap by analysing what innovation in services means and how it can be measured. The traditional indicators of innovation inputs (such as levels of R&D expenditures) and innovation outputs (such as the number of patents) suggest that services are less innovative than other branches of the economy. We take into account a larger spectrum of innovation indicators, both in terms of innovation inputs and outputs, to analyse whether the intensity, nature and economic impact of innovation significantly varies between the manufacturing and service sectors in UK, and between different parts of the services sector such as knowledge-intensive business services and traditional services. The results of the empirical analysis identify the ‘hidden parts’ of innovation in services, that is, the innovative activities and successful innovative outputs that are traditionally underestimated by the use of metrics based on R&D and patents. We suggest a wide range of policy measures specifically targeted at enhancing innovation in services; the UK service economy needs more focus on learning and the training of personnel, and a new balance of policy to support both R&D and non-R&D innovation activities.

Academic entrepreneurship in the creative arts

The extensive literature on academic entrepreneurship has focused almost entirely on science and engineering, while little is known about the extent of it in other disciplines, most notably the creative arts. We analyse the context, motivations, and variety of academic entrepreneurship in the creative arts using a recently completed survey of UK academics, providing microdata on 1108 academics. The data are complemented using institutional data taken from the Higher Education–Business and Community Interaction Survey, and data on individual submissions to the Research Assessment Exercise 2008. We highlight four characteristics of academic environment in the creative arts that strongly influence the nature of the entrepreneurship in the field: the practice-based nature of the research; the role of networks, particularly networks linked to teaching; the importance on nonmonetary rewards; and the role of geography. Our results indicate that academic entrepreneurship in the creative arts is varied and extensive, and that it could be better supported by policy.

Transitions and Location Choice: Analysing the Decisions of Students and Recent Graduates

Abstract This special issue is the result of a series of sessions on graduates and the labour market, organised at the 2012 ERSA conference in Bratislava, Slovakia. The collection of papers is the first to address determinants and impact of decisions on both entry and exit from higher education, with a focus on the location and labour market decisions of students and recent graduates. The first two papers in this issue present novel analyses of the transition from high school to tertiary education; Suhonen on distance and field of study in Finland; and Faggian and Franklin on student quality and location choice in the USA. The following two articles focus on the migration patterns of recent graduates; Ahlin, Andersson and Thulin focus on the rewards of entering labour markets in urban areas, while Carree and Kronenberg focus on the issue of residential location choice. Koster and Venhorst conclude by studying the residential and business location decisions of graduate entrepreneurs. The papers provide policy implications on the geographical spread of higher education institutions and the short- and long-term consequences of student and graduate mobility.

Academic Entrepreneurship and the Geography of University Knowledge Flows in the UK

Knowledge flows between universities and industry have long been recognised as important determinants of regional economic development. However, a major unresolved issue is the exact nature of the mechanisms through which knowledge flows take place. We analyse the spatial patterns of knowledge exchange activities by considering a wide range of mechanisms including joint research, consultancy services, personnel exchange and informal advice. The analysis is based on a recently completed survey of UK academics, providing micro-data on over 22,000 academics across all subject areas. Our results show that the geography of academic entrepreneurship varies widely by type of activity.

Academic Interactions with Private, Public and Not-for-Profit Organisations: The Known Unknowns

An increased emphasis on the role of innovation in economic development has focused attention on the university as an important contributor to the innovation process. Universities are engaged in research and education and, therefore, provide critical resources for innovation such as skills and knowledge. They are one of the main organisational elements of the innovation system (Cooke et al. 1997; Lundvall 1992; Nelson 1993) and one which is involved, through market and non-market linkages, with other innovation agents including business, government and nongovernmental organisations.