Nascent Innovation Systems in Developing Countries: University Responses to Regional Needs in Thailand

Abstract

Universities are playing a major role in regional innovation by interacting directly with regional stakeholders. Up to now there is little evidence on responses of universities to regional needs in developing countries. This paper applies an adopted framework of nascent regional innovation systems in developing countries to a study of the potential impacts of five universities in three regions in Thailand. The empirical evidence suggests that more systematic approaches toward regional university‐industry knowledge transfer are still limited by centralized national policies, a low sophistication of regional technological needs, and institutional barriers within the higher education system. University responses to regional needs differ markedly between the Bangkok region and two peripheral regional innovation systems.

Keywords:

• University–industry linkages
• regional innovation systems
• developing countries
• Thailand

Acknowledgements

The empirical research for this article was funded by a grant from the German Research Association (DFG‐Gz. LI 981/1‐1). The author thanks the interviewees and administrators at Thai universities for their cooperation. Useful comments of Maryann Feldman and two anonymous reviewers are acknowledged.

Notes

All monetary denominations are in Thai Baht. The Baht had been pegged to the U.S. Dollar at an exchange rate of about 25 Baht for 1 USD until the financial crisis in 1997. After that, the currency has been floated and the yearly average has been as follows: 41.35 (1998), 37.88 (1999), 40.20 (2000), 44.54 (2001), 43.07 (2002), 41.60 (2003), 40.31 (2004), 40.31 (2005), 38.49 (01–08/2006). This information is based on www.oanda.com.