Creating Critical Mass of Research Excellence in the Region: The Case of Scottish Research Pooling Initiatives

Abstract

This article examines the recent development of, and policy rationale for “research pooling” initiatives in Scotland. Research pooling initiatives have been started with financial support from the Scottish Funding Council in order to form inter-organizational “international critical mass” of research excellence at universities at the regional level. This article examines the development of university cooperations at the regional level as vehicles for obtaining “strategic resources”. Then the “multi-level governance” structure of research pooling is explored in light of the future development of a Scottish regional innovation system (RIS). Particular attention is drawn to challenges concerning knowledge transfer, which is critical in integrating research pooling initiatives in the development of RIS in Scotland.

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Dr Catherine Lyall for her kind help when I initiated this study. I hereby thank all the interviewees for their kind cooperation and Professor Phil Cooke for comments on an earlier version of this article. All remaining errors are the responsibility of the author.

Notes

In the field of science, technology and innovation policy, the Scottish Parliament inherited “both a suite of existing UK policies and also a distinctive Scottish trajectory in regional innovation policy and economic development”, characterized as “concurrent power” (Lyall, 2005).

This research visit was funded by Japanese research council, JSPS Young Researchers Grant (B), when the author was based at Higher Education Research Unit, National Institute for Educational Policy Research (NIER), Japan. This article is primarily based on the information collected as of September 2007, and while some factual updates are made, it does not reflect the most recent policy situation in Scotland.

Also see the UK White Paper (Department for Education and Skills, 2003).

In Manchester in England, in October 2004, University of Manchester and UMIST were merged to become a larger institution to form a critical mass of research concentration. The Regional Development Agency in the North West region (NWDA) supported this merger by providing financial investment and this is seen as a regional strategy.

Prior to that, SFC had identified priority areas for pooling in 2001–2002. These are physics, economics, life sciences and creative arts.

There is a separate research pooling initiatives funded by SFC which cover social and criminal justice. These are intended for “capacity building” and takes needs-based approach to promote the interaction of research and practice in these areas; therefore, these initiatives have different rationales and characteristics from the above-mentioned areas of research pooling initiatives.

Information as of September 2007.

“SUPA KT Showcase” SUPA News, 27 February 2008. http://www.supa.ac.uk/news/SUPA_newsletter/SUPA_Newsletter_7_1.pdf

‘Millions at Stage in Knowledge Transfer’ SUPA News, 12 June 2007.

In 1999, the Proof of Concept Fund was established and funded £33 million in 2004 available over a 6-year period. ITIs were created in 2002 with the aim of building on the strengths of the Scottish economy by strengthening commercialization of research. Scottish Enterprise committed a £ 450 million investment in the ITIs over the next 10 years. ITIs fulfil a co-ordinating task that helps to identify, commission and/or acquire and diffuse pre-competitive research, and a particular emphasis is on Scottish universities, research institutes, as well as on the existing and nascent SME in the fields of communication technology & digital media, life sciences and energy sectors (OECD, 2004).

BERD 2005 (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/01/BERD2005).

Though there was some evidence that the gap was narrowing to 2002 (Roper et al., 2006), the reverse is apparent in the 2005 figures. http://openscotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/07/04110926/7.

Cooke et al. (2000) show that any functioning regional innovation system consists of two sub-systems: (i) the knowledge application and exploitation sub-system, principally occupied by firms with vertical supply-chain networks; and (ii) the knowledge generation and diffusion sub-system, consisting mainly of public organizations.

SUPA Graduate School ideas have been copied in Ireland and SUPA CEO and Director of Graduate School are in close communication with the development.

In England, similar research partnerships and alliances exist but these are not identical to Scottish research pooling. There are some collaborative mechanisms developed at the regional level especially in knowledge transfer activities. These were the consequences of HEFCE third stream funding (HEROBiC and HEIF) (Kitagawa, 2004). There are different models of university alliances at regional level (e.g. White Rose consortium in Yorkshire and Humberside, Greater Manchester Research Alliance (GMRA) in Greater Manchester working with NHS). Some of the regions in England have set up regional science councils and regional science strategies.