From regional innovation to science cities

1. From regional innovation to science cities David Charles and Felicity Wray

2. Overview • The return of the concept of the science city • Limitations and critiques of regional innovation systems • The new focus on science policy at sub-national level • Science and city-regions • Characteristics of science cities • Case study of Newcastle • Policy issues

3. The second coming of the science city? • Science parks • Technopoles, technopolises and science cities • Regional innovation systems and strategies • Regional science policies • Science cities

4. Evolution of the notion of the science city • University cities as centres of learning only – Bologna, Oxford • The 19th century industrial city – Manchester, Newcastle • Innovation and the global metropolis – London, Berlin Paris, New York Tokyo • Planned science cities – Akademgorodok,Tskuba, Taedok, Hsinchu • Emergence of specialist science and innovation cities with universities at the core – Silicon Valley, Grenoble

5. Limitations of regional innovation systems approach • Focus on system interactions – what does a region do if the only strengths are in science? • Regions with weak traditional industries and low levels of related variety • Strong cities with relatively weak regional hinterlands • Sectoral/cluster innovation systems not mapping onto regions • Limited focus on international links

6. From regional innovation policy to regional science policy • Growing involvement of regional level bodies in science policy as an extension of regional innovation policy • Implications for regional investment of the Lisbon agenda, ERA and especially the Barcelona target of 3% GERD in GDP • Concern about the conflicts and tensions between different scales of policymaking • Notion of the agora as a site of debate on the purpose and meaning of science and the validity of ‘regional’ objectives for science • Contextualisation of science

7. Shift to a multi-scalar science policy • Four key elements • New paradigms of regional development • Growth of devolution movements in a number of EU countries • Rise of international collaboration, notably in the EU Framework Programme • New disruptive technologies and mode 2 knowledge production

8. Investments in universities and science infrastructures • Chasing global rankings • Cities/regions and universities in mutual investments • Universities as key assets • Florida arguments on talent attraction • Rethinking the university in the context of globalisation, commercialisation pressures and the triple helix rhetoric • Need for new governance relations to deal with new spaces for university engagement

9. So what is a science city?

10. Is a science city likely to be like this?

11. Or like this?

12. Science cities as hubs of the global knowledge economy • Economic development policy focused on hub cities • Alternatives to global cities as finance capitals • Sources of new industries and knowledge • Government enthusiasm for new knowledge- based clusters • R&D centres as poles of development but national policy tendency to centralisation • Science parks and technopoles as tools of regional and national development • Competition for investment but also talent

13. Elements in the science city • Universities and public research – quality, research intensity, international in focus • Basic research focus of business – home grown or international • Innovative culture in local industry clusters • Spin offs from HE • Support services and infrastructures – venture capital and advice • Knowledge exploitation culture

14. Spaces of engagement • Need to rethink the physical design of universities to reflect new roles and modes of knowledge transfer • Existing land and property portfolios and the need to manage them effectively • Centrality or dominance of universities in some cities • Reshaping the university as a place of shared knowledge production and encouragement of wider participation • Examples of strategic development to reposition universities in international networks and also to underpin international competitiveness • New forms of campus and knowledge precincts etc

15. An international trend • UK science cities – Newcastle, Manchester, York, Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham • Zurich, Leuven, Ulm, Dortmund, Heraklion? • Asian cases – Singapore, Cyberjaya, Taedok, Shanghai, Bangalore • Australia – Brisbane, Melbourne

16. Singapore Biopolis

17. Brisbane – Smart State to Smart City • Evolution of Smart State strategy • State investment in science infrastructure and translation spaces • Parallel developments of other innovation system components • Strong international dimension • Main concentration of investment in Brisbane • Recent recognition of the importance of precincts and spaces for engagement

18. QUT Kelvin Grove CBD QUT Southbank Griffith U UQ Boggo Road precinct

20. UK Science City programme • Announcement by government with no funding • Building on policies to encourage university engagement with business and 10 year plan for science • Six science cities in two announcements • Deliberately excluded London and golden triangle • No relocation of R&D on the agenda • Cities to develop own strategies based on universities through regional development agencies • Varied approaches across the six cities

21. Newcastle Science City - Spaces for Science and Business Science Central

22. Strategy for success c. 2007

23. What might Newcastle Science City look like? • A place where: the university is open to business and economic development • Spinning out high tech/knowledge intensive companies • Bringing in high tech companies • Working with industrial and government partners • Active social entrepreneurship

24. Elements • 4 science themes – mix of old and new • Translation research and exploitation • Campus redevelopment and expansion • Major physical redevelopment • Science education and widening aspirations • Public debate and understanding • Balancing interests of three main partners and building new governance structures

28. Business School contributions • Business students and graduates – general and specialised • Student project work with Science City partners and firms • Specialised training within university and for business • Research on innovation and technology futures • Policy advice and support • Support for commercialisation strategies and enterprise programmes • Professors of practice

29. Prospects for UK science cities? • Does it make sense to have 6 in addition to the golden triangle? • Is it possible to achieve anything without massive new resources? • Is it about regeneration, university strategy or regional economic development? • What’s the potential benefit – high tech? new services? a tool to rethink wider regional support? • Is it the last best hope?

30. Tentative Policy Recommendations • No more rounds of UK Science Cities • Less emulation of successful places, • Less preoccupation with being ‘world class’, • Less emphasis on cultivating or even creating sexy sectors And instead …

31. Policy Recommendations contin… • More refinement and subtlety in the strategies. Focus on local context and acknowledge history. • More strategic integration of the various forms of innovation, more achievable goals. • More outward facing – how engage with other territories engaged in similar activities AND harness value. • More funding from central government. • Continue to devolve decision making and autonomy to sub-national agents to make and shape their local development trajectories.