Luc E. Weber and James J. Duderstadt (eds)
Economica, Glion colloquium Series No 6, London, Paris, Genève (2010)
ln June 2009, university and industry leaders from around the world gathered in Glion-above-Montreux, Switzerland, for the VU Glion Colloquium to consider the role of research universities in an innovation-driven global society. Whether in the “old world” of Europe and North America or in rapidly developing nations, the message is clear: innovation bas become the key to prosperity and social well-being. Today’s economy requires not only leadership in innovation, but also educated citizens capable of applying technology, talent and capital in new ways. Institutions of higher learning must collaborate with industry and governrnent to create a climate that enables innovation to thrive. Part of the challenge is the changing nature of innovation itself – it is becoming far more open, spans virtually ail disciplines and is increasingly global. And it arises not only in the laboratory and classroorn, but also in the rnarketplace, workplace and cornmunity.
Part I lays the foundation, introducing innovation in several forms: economic (Luc Weber), technological (Charles Vest) an·d social (Ellen Hazelkorn). Part II is concerned with the agents of innovation from the points of view of a research university (Jean-Lou Chameau), industry (Wayne Johnson) and national innovation policies (Frans Van Vught and David Dili). Part III presents university leaders frorn long-established (Georg Winckler, Ralph Eichler and Heather Munroe-Blum) and emerging institutions (Bertil Andersson et al, Fawwaz Ulaby, Arif AI-Hammadi et al, and Juan de la Fuente) to compare how regional and institutional characteristics shape innovati m strategies.
Part IV focuses on approaches to innovation at national and institutional levels. Michael Crow describes the transformation of Arizona State University, Bernd Huber reviews Germany’s excellent initiative, James Duderstadt discusses a US. approach to energy challenges, Michel Bénard describes the shift of high:.tech industry towards open innovation and Jamil Salmi concludes with the challenges of creating world-class universities.
Part V addresses the intellectual character of innovation and its relationship to the university’s mission. Nam Suh proposes an innovation mode!, Dieter Lenzen returns to Humboldt’s ideas in creating the 19th-century research university, Gururaj Deshpande demonstrates how innovative organizations could be created in different environments and John Seely Brown suggests that the power of ICT, coupled with new social networking, is driving an episternological shift.
Frank Rhodes reviews the past decade spanned by the Glion Colloquia and helps draft a new Glion Declaration.