Assisted Partnering in the 'Valley of Death'

• In Event: Redrawing of Boundaries and Knowledge Flows between Industry and Academia I

Abstract

Key OECD and EU policy documents argue that there is a gap between public investment in research on the one side and growth, jobs and welfare on the other – a gap referred to as ”The Valley of Death”. Furthermore, it is argued that this gap must be ‘bridged’ by linking universities and strategic players more closely to each other. For this purpose, a multitude of programs and initiatives have been launched, all seeking to stimulate and guide network formation and knowledge transfer across ‘the Valley’ between universities, markets and society. In the paper, we focus upon one of these initiatives, the EU Horizon 2020 program with a total budget of €80 billion running from 2014-2020. H2020 focuses on connecting research, markets and society through a series of work programmes related to societal challenges. Each work programme within the Societal Challenges comprises a package of network and coordination activities, review panels, prizes and funding schemes for research, companies, entrepreneurs, organizations and regions. We investigate two aspects of H2020. First we describe and analyze its intellectual history, where the concept of ‘innovation’ seems to undergo a series of transformations. Second, we present a pilot case study of two Danish initiatives at higher education institutions aiming to influence the policy formulations of two work programmes “Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing" and “Inclusive, innovative and reflective societies” We conclude that the concept of ’innovation’ increasingly seems to take on a meaning of ’partnerships’ and that higher education institutions likewise become preoccupied with indicating and simulating such partnerships.

Authors

• Signe Vikkelsø, Copenhagen Business School

• Julie Sommerlund, University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Humanities