Building inter-organizational synergies in the regional Triple Helix

摘要

The idea of the 'Triple Helix' has become an inescapable fixture in the landscape of those studying the relationships between industry and higher education since it was first advanced by Henry Etzkowitz and Loet Leydesdorff in the early 1990s (cf Etzkowitz, 1993; Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 1995). A central part of the notion was the reinvigorating effect of having three partners in the relationship - what they called the tertius gaudens (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 1996). The fact that industry, government and universities all had different goals and aims meant that any pairing of them would inevitably at some point reach an impasse which would be extremely difficult to resolve; but a third partner in an outside sector could bring these tensions to the surface and develop constructive solutions to the problems that would enable progress to be made.