14. The Latent Role of Universities in Boosting Innovations: An Informational Approach

The chapter looks at universities in their relation to other entities in society. It proposes new metrics for gaining insight into these relationships. The possibilities for the reorganisation of the relationships between universities, industry and government so as to stimulate economic growth or innovation can themselves be classed as innovations. Whilst universities often are the locus of specific innovations, their broader discursive role provides a means of exploring contesting perspectives on innovation. In doing so, they can contribute to a broader public discourse where some innovations which were once seen to be controversial become normalised. The discourse dynamics illustrated by the Triple Helix allows for the description of this process as one where redundancies of expectation are produced not only within the transactional productions of the academy (i.e. academic papers) but also within the management of institutions surrounding education, including university management, academic quality agencies, institutional ranking organisations, academic journals, as well as other institutions which the university is associated with such as health or law.