Triple Helix VI: conference on university, industry and government linkages: NUS, Singapore, 16-18 May 2007.

'Emerging Models for the Entrepreneurial University: Regional Diversities or Global Convergence' was the theme of the sixth Triple Helix conference. Held every two years, this was the first time that the conference had been located in Asia. In his preface to the proceedings, co-inventor of the 'triple helix' metaphor and staunch proponent of the entrepreneurial university, Henry Etzkowitz, listed the conference questions as: 'Can an entrepreneurial university develop from a teaching university?', 'Is an "external field" essential for triple helix interactions?', 'Does "taking the role of the other" enhance or degrade university, industry government performance?', and 'Must transition between "knowledge, consensus and innovation spaces" take place sequentially, or may it occur nonlinearly?'

In his keynote address titled 'The Shift Towards Entrepreneurial University Models in the US: Lessons and Challenges', David Mowery of Haas School of Business (Berkeley) presented an excellent analysis of both the rhetoric and the substantive evidence around the concept. Essentially unpacking the notion of whether or not a university can be entrepreneurial, his inquiry showed that there was a great heterogeneity of institutional structures (universities are 'messy') and that in the pro-patent era since the 1980s revenues accruing to most universities from IP activity have been modest at best. Being pro-patent, he argued, was a necessary but not sufficient condition for success as is evident in the very small numbers of institutions that have benefited from fortuitous 'home run' patents. Another topical point that Mowery made was that the triple helix and entrepreneurial university concepts both ignored the role of government research laboratories which, coincidentally, is to be the subject of a forthcoming IMPP issue focused on CSIRO.

The strong representation from developing nations, many of which are positively embracing the triple helix and entrepreneurial university concept in the hope that they will spur economic advance, meant that the majority of the papers were very normative (to the point of being evangelical almost) in their findings, which was in stark contrast to the ambivalent US evidence presented by Mowery. In reflecting on the conference, participants perhaps should ponder Mowery's warning to learn from and adapt, rather than imitate, initiatives in other nations. A couple of interesting papers did take a more critical look at the topic, including Phil Cooke's (Cardiff University) interesting paper on alliances between researchers and the food industry, and Juha Tuunainen's (University of Helsinki) fascinating in-depth study of the way in which universities (often unconsciously) resist this entrepreneurial marketisation process.

This was the fourth Triple Helix conference I have attended and they are usually characterised by the interesting range of researchers bringing their different perspectives to the topic of university--industry--government relations. This conference, however, marks what may be a watershed with moves to formalise the community into an association and to found a journal. The metaphor certainly now has protagonists world-wide with, for example, an Institute for Triple Helix Innovation in Hawaii and an Ethiopian Triple Helix Association! Arguing that the triple helix concept has evolved metaphor to model to movement, Etzkowitz proposed that it was incumbent on the community to create its own voice. Not all attendees were convinced of this--co-founder Loet Leydesdorff, who also gave an interesting keynote address illustrating his wealth of scientiometric data, certainly had reservations--and time will tell if this formalisation will change the flavour of the conference and the community that has supported it since 1996.

The next Triple Helix conference will probably be held in 2009 with the location to be confirmed, but Spain was a likely contender. Information about previous conferences can be found at http://users.fmg.uva.nl/lleydesdorff/th2/