Polytechnic Education Institutions in Portugal as Regional Innovation Ecosystems
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25746/ruiips.v11.i1.33326Keywords:
regional innovation, innovation ecosystems, hubs, polytechnicsAbstract
Polytechnic education institutions in Portugal have played a crucial role in regional development, specifically through the education and habilitation of highly qualified professionals, managers and senior technicians and the promotion of regional innovation. Based on this premise, using concrete case studies, this article systematizes, based on the reality of the Central Region, the key role of polytechnic educational institutions as regional innovation ecosystems, focusing on their contributions to economic, social, and technological development of the regions where they are located. Joint initiatives adopted by polytechnic institutions to encourage innovation networks stand out, in close connection with the business sector and the social economy, through co-creation and knowledge transfer. This regional innovation strategy is based on a collaborative logic in terms of sharing research resources focused on practice, as well as the adoption of new teaching models supported by digital platforms that foster a culture of entrepreneurship. Ultimately, by acting as hubs for regional innovation ecosystems, polytechnic institutes enrich their mission and promote the region's visibility at national and international levels, attracting investment from abroad and impacting sustainable regional development.
References
Adner, R. (2017). Ecosystem as structure: an actionable construct for strategy. Journal of Management, 43(1), 39-58.
Agência Nacional de Inovação. (7 de outubro de 2023). Modernização e Valorização dos Institutos Politécnicos. Obtido de https://www.ani.pt/pt/valorizacao-do-conhecimento/interface/moderniza%C3%A7%C3%A3o-e-valoriza%C3%A7%C3%A3o-dos-institutos-polit%C3%A9cnicos/
Arthur, D., Moizer, J., & Lean, J. (2023). A systems approach to mapping UK regional innovation ecosystems for policy insight. Industry and Higher Education, 37(2), 193-207.
Asheim, B. T. (2019). Smart specialisation, innovation policy and regional innovation systems: what about new path development in less innovative regions?. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 32(1), 8-25.
Asheim, B., Isaksen, A., & Trippl, M. (2019). Advanced Introduction to Regional Innovation Systems. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift - Norwegian Journal of Geography, 73(5), 318-319. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/00291951.2019.1707866
Barros, J. S., & Castro, A. (2006). Compartimentação geoambiental no complexo de Campo Maior: uma área de tensão ecológica. Interações, 8(13), 119-130. Obtido de https://doi.org/10.1590/S1518-70122006000200013
Bejarano, J. B. P., Sossa, J. W. Z., Ocampo-López, C., & Ramírez-Carmona, M. (2023). Open Innovation: A Technology Transfer Alternative from Universities. A Systematic Literature Review. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 100090.
Bertini, S. (2017). Smart specialisation, a strategy to support the transformation of a consolidated manufacturing system: The Emilia-Romagna experience. European Structual Funds and Investment Journal, 5(1), 32-43.
Brand, G., Hendey, L., & Harrison, R. (2015). Mining the Gap! Fostering Creativity and Innovative Thinking. Procedia Technology, 79-84. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.protcy.2015.07.014
Breschi, S., & Malerba, F. (1997). Sectoral innovation systems: technological regimes, Schumpeterian dynamics, and spatial boundaries. Em C. Edquist, Systems of Innovation: Technologies, Institutions and Organizations (pp. 130-156). Routledge.
Camargo, M., Palominos, P., Marche, B., Toledo, F., Boly, V., & Alfaro, M. (2021). A multi-stakeholder system-based methodology to evaluate the needs of innovation ecosystems. Research in Engineering Design, 489-506.
Carvalho, L., Sardinha, B., Catarina, D., Nabais, J., & Bogas, P. e. (2022). Livro de atas do IV Encontro de reflexão e partilha pedagógica. Setúbal: Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal.
Castro, M. P., Scheede, C. R., & Zermeño, M. (2019). The Impact of Higher Education on Entrepreneurship and the Innovation Ecosystem: A Case Study in Mexico. Sustainability, 11(5597), 5597-. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/su11205597
Cooke, P. (2008). Regional innovation systems: origin of the species. International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, 1(3), 393-409.
David Doloreux, S. P. (2005). Regional innovation systems: Current discourse and unresolved issues. Technology in Society, 27(2), 133-153.
Doloreux, D. 2003 Regional innovation systems in the periphery: The case of the Beauce in Québec (Canada). International Journal of Innovation Management. 7 (1) : 67-94.
Doloreux, D., & Parto, S. (2004). Regional innovation systems: a critical review. Maastricht, Merit, 190(1), 1-26.
Edquist, C. (1997). Systems of Innovation: Technologies, Institutions and Organizations. Routledge.
Etzkowitz, H., & Zhou, C. (2017). Hélice Tríplice: inovação e empreendedorismo universidade-indústria-governo. Estudos Avançados, 31(90), 23-48. Obtido de https://doi.org/10.1590/s0103-40142017.319000
European Commission/Eurostat. (2018). Regions in the European Union: Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics - NUTS 2016/EU-28. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
Fernández-Esquinas, M., Pinto, H., Yruela, M. P., & Pereira, T. S. (2016). Tracing the flows of knowledge transfer: Latent dimensions and determinants of university–industry interactions in peripheral innovation systems. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 113, 266-279.
Garcia, R., Serra, M., Mascaini, S., Bastos, L., & Macedo, R. (2015). Revisitando os Sistemas Regionais de Inovação: teoria, prática, políticas e agenda para o Brasil. Nova Economia, 32(3), 617–645. Obtido de https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-6351/6932
Garcia, R., Serra, M., Mascarini, S., Bastos, L., & Macedo, R. (2020). Sistemas Regionais de Inovação: fundamentos conceituais, aplicações empíricas, agenda de pesquisa e implicações de políticas. Campinas: Unicamp. Instituto de Economia.
González-López, M., & Asheim, B. T. (2020). Introduction: regional innovation systems and regional innovation policies. In González-López, M., & Asheim, B.T. (orgs.). Regions and innovation policies in Europe (pp. 1-11). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Granstrand, O., & Holgersson, M. (2020). Innovation ecosystems: A conceptual review and a new definition. Technovation, 90-91, 1-12. Elsevier. Obtido de https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2019.102098
Han, J., Zhou, H., Löwik, S., & De Weerd-Nederhof, P. (2022). Building and sustaining emerging ecosystems through new focal ventures: Evidence from China's bike-sharing industry. Technological Forecasting and Social Change(174). doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121261
Isaksen, A., Trippl, M., & Mayer, H. (2022). Regional innovation systems in an era of grand societal challenges: reorientation versus transformation. European planning studies, 30(11), 2125-2138.
Jacobides, M. G., Cenmano, C., & Gawer, A. (2018). Towards a theory of ecosystems. Strategic Management Journal, 39(8), 2255-2276.
Liu, J., Zhou, H., Chen, F., & Yu, J. (2021). The coevolution of innovation ecosystems and the strategic growth paths of knowledge-intensive enterprises: The case of China’s integrated circuit design industry. Journal of Business Research, 428-439. Obtido de https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.02.008
Morgado, R. M. (2022). O papel dos Institutos Politécnicos na transferência de tecnologia e inovação nas regiões periféricas portuguesas. Tese de Mestrado, Faculdade de Economia. Porto: Universidade do Porto.
Natário, M. M., & Oliveira, P. M. (2018). Portuguese SME Innovation Sources: Trends of the Last Decade. 2018 Proceedings, 29, pp. 1-16. Obtido de https://aisel.aisnet.org/capsi2018/29
Natário, M. M., Braga, A. M., Couto, J. P. A., & Tiago, M. T. B. (2012). Territorial standards for innovation: Analysis for the regions of Portugal. Revista de Estudios Regionales, 95, 15-38.
OCDE. (2013). Regions and Innovation: Collaborating across borders. Publicações da OCDE.
Oliveira, P. M., & Natário, M. M. (2016). Territorial innovation systems and strategies of collective efficiency: The case of Tagus Valley agro-food complex. European Journal of Innovation Management, 19(3), 362-382.
Pinto, H. (2023). Universities and institutionalization of regional innovation policy in peripheral regions: Insights from the smart specialization in Portugal. Regional Science Policy & Practice.
Pinto, H., Nogueira, C., Carrozza, C., & D'Emery, R. (2019). Smart specialisation and the entrepreneurial discovery: a new approach to design structural change. In: Carvalho, L. C., Rego, C., Lucas, R., Sánchez-Hernández, M. I., Noronha, A. (org.). In Entrepreneurship and structural change in dynamic territories – contributions from developed and developing countries. (pp.55-75) Springer.
Politécnico de Coimbra. (7 de outubro de 2023). Projeto @GIR arranca no terreno. Obtido de https://www.ipc.pt/ipc/artigos/projeto-gir-arranca-no-terreno/
Serra, M., Garcia, R., Romero, S., Macedo, R., & Bastos, L. (2021). As políticas regionais de inovação em questão: Desenvolvimentos recentes e implicações. Política e Planejamento Regional, 8(3), 460-479.
Thomas, E., Faccin, K., & Asheim, B. T. (2020). Universities as orchestrators of the development of regional innovation ecosystems in emerging economies. Growth and change, 52(2), 770-789.
Unger, M. & Polt, W. (2017) The Knowledge Triangle between Research, Education and Innovation-A Conceptual Discussion. Foresight and STI Governance, 11, (2),10–26.
Universidade de Coimbra. (7 de outubro de 2023). INOVC+ Ecossistema de Inovação Inteligente da Região Centro. Obtido de https://ucpages.uc.pt/inovc/
Villani, E., & Lechner, C. (2020). How to acquire legitimacy and become a player in a regional innovation ecosystem? The case of a young university. The Journal of Technology Transfer. Obtido de https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-020-09803-8
Yaghmaie, P., & Vanhaverbeke, W. (2019). Identifying and describing constituents of innovation ecosystems: A systematic review of the literature. EuroMed Journal of Business, 283-314.
Yaghmaie, P., & Vanhaverbeke, W. (2019). Identifying and describing constituents of innovation ecosystems: A systematic review of the literature. EuroMed Journal of Business, 15(3), 283-314. Emerald Publishing Limited. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/EMJB-03-2019-0042
Yin, R. K. (2014). Case study research: Design and methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Pedro Oliveira, Manuela Natário
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors publishing in this journal agree to the following terms:
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication, with the article simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License that allows sharing of the work with acknowledgement of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted to enter into additional contracts separately for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the article published in this journal (e.g., publish in an institutional repository or as a book chapter), with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors have permission and are encouraged to publish and distribute their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their personal webpage) at any point before or during the editorial process, as this may generate productive changes, as well as increase the impact and citation of the published work.
