The Knowledge Ecosystem
The main value streams of universities are interrelated and interact in a way that creates value far beyond the simple sum.
The fundamental contribution to society by universities lies in creating and passing on knowledge for its own sake and engaging with society in its application.
Universities today are an integral part of society, actively participating in fulfilling “a third mission” for universities, namely involvement in socio-economic development, thus becoming the third element of what has been described as the “triple helix” – the collaboration between Government, Industry and Universities in order to create innovation and economic growth.
Today there is a clear tendency that universities contribute more and more to solving the grand challenges of society. This also leads to an increasing demand (for instance from foundations) for more holistic solutions, involving interdisciplinary research in order to solve these challenges, which continues to grow in complexity. Thus there is not only a greater focus on the triple helix model, mixing Government, University and Industry, but also a demand for universities to mix disciplines in order to come up with sustainable solutions to the challenges societies are facing.
This means that the way of looking at the value of a university should change.
IARU argues that the output of research intensive universities today can be divided into three main value streams:
- Research (production and distribution of new knowledge through articles, publication and access to research)
- Education (the knowledge and “soft skills” of candidates)
- Technology transfer (collaboration with the outside world, hiring of graduates by industry, consultancy, patent/licensing/spinoff companies)
Besides these quantifiable indicators, it is also both useful and necessary to show the value of these streams by using cases, showing the concrete examples of how education, research and technology transfer constitute value for the universities, companies and for society as a whole.
A new way of describing the special value of research intensive universities: The knowledge ecosystem
While it can make sense to measure the value streams separately, IARU argues that the crux of the specific value of research intensive universities is that the three main value flows of universities are interrelated and interact in a way that creates value far beyond the simple sum.
The fact that the three flows are gathered in one university, in the same organisational and physical space, is a key to understanding the special value of research intensive universities. Research, education and exchange of knowledge with the outside world fertilize each other: Challenges met by industry and society may inspire new basic (= not yet applied) and applied research, contact with students inspires the researcher, researchers include students in their work on research projects, companies exchange knowledge with graduates when they employ them or through internships, student projects etc.
This means that research intensive universities are able to simultaneously perform fundamental research with a sufficiently broad scope and adequate cost-effectiveness, be the pacemaker for the creation of new products and technologies, a think-tank for governmental strategies and regulations, a provider of skilled manpower to industry and society and provide valuable input to society and the way we think about life, culture, history – i.e. research that expands intellectual breadth and develops ideas and discourses about human experiences which will prepare us more effectively for an increasingly global and cosmopolitan world: Things which are not only giving us something to live from, but also to live for.
Another valuable consequence of this inseparable link between education, research and knowledge exchange is that research intensive universities always will be sure of creating value for society : By definition the outcome of research must be unknown from the outset. But at the end of a failed experiment, a university has at least educated a researcher. This is an important part of the value that universities create.
A way to describe this special value of research intensive universities caused by intertwined value streams – and thus painting a fuller picture of the value of universities – could be to show the vitality of this “knowledge ecosystem”.
In the ecosystem we include the interaction between the three value streams, taking place at a research intensive university and in relation to the outside world: The special value produced in the space between research and education. Between knowledge exchange with the surrounding world and research. And between education and knowledge exchange.
This cannot be done by using numbers. It has to be done by using words, describing the cases from real life to show how the ecosystem creates value. IARU thus believes, that much more emphasis should be put on telling the many stories of how research, education and knowledge exchange at the research intensive universities creates value far beyond a mere input/output point of view.
As IARU members we will strive to tell the stories of how the knowledge ecosystem works and we will, when possible, urge politicians and other opinion makers to apply this perspective and not only the quantifiable a perspective when discussing the value of universities in the future.