Taking the ivory from the tower to coat the economic world: Regional strategies to make science useful

Abstract In this paper, we aim at providing a critical appraisal of academic research valorisation models adopted in three regions in the world: the Provincia di Milano in Italy, the Technology-Region Karlsruhe in Germany and the Chinese municipality of Chongqing. Our first originality consists in developing a literature-based analytical grid to characterise and classify existing tools. In a second step, we depict and compare, thanks to a qualitative analysis run on fine-grained data (collected through in depth interviews and frequent interactions with actors of the regional innovation systems), the mechanisms adopted in the three regions so as to test for specificities in the implementation of academic knowledge transfer. Our analysis exhibits on the one hand a strong similarity among regions in terms of variety of existing tools. On the other hand, we also notice some specificities in the nature of the tools: European regions are characterised by an under-representation of absorption and appropriation tools, whereas the Chinese region seems to put great stress on direct valorisation mechanisms. Finally, rather than supporting the imitation, multiplication and superposition of newly created tools, our study encourages policy makers to be more selective and adapt their tools to regional innovative needs.