Can ‘the public’ be considered as a fourth helix in university-industry-government relations? Report on the Fourth Triple Helix Conference, 2002

Institutional arrangements of university-industry-government relations raise political questions because the public/private divide can to a certain extent be reconstructed within these networks. The institutional questions resound with concerns about the new technologies (such as genetically modified food) and globalization. The discussions at the Fourth Triple Helix Conference in Copenhagen focused on the role of the university in shaping new innovation environments like the Oresund region created recently by the bridge between Sweden and Denmark. The conference concluded that competing policies at different levels can provide a rich selection environment for both entrepreneurial initiatives and public participation. The formulation of public demand for technological innovations may help to stimulate the transition to an increasingly knowledge-based economy. Heuristics for using the Triple Helix model in empirical research efforts are specified. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.