Beyond bricks and mortar boards: universities' role in building regional economies
Article
Universities have a substantial contribution to make to the local economy, acting on some of the key factors that drive growth: skills, investment and innovation. They are also major employers in the local economy, and play a key role in upskilling individuals and attracting talent.
At present, universities appear to have a small influence on private sector innovation in general, with a relatively small number of firms interacting with them to meet their innovation needs. However, those firms that do collaborate with universities do seem to show better performance.
There are, however, opportunities for universities to expand their economic growth contribution without committing to large amounts of additional expenditure. Indeed, in a time of economic uncertainty, as funding policy for universities changes, engagement with business could offer universities an opportunity to diversify their income streams while also contributing to economic growth.
This report makes recommendations to government, to the universities sector and to local enterprise partnerships to maximise development and growth opportunities for all parties. It also presents a framework for assessing the impact and priorities of clusters of universities with different roles and emphases: skills and knowledge creators, university towns, local developers, investment attractors, and local entrepreneurs.
Related items
Taken to heart: Inequalities in heart disease in Scotland
More than 7.6 million people across the UK live with cardiovascular disease (CVD), around twice as many as live with Alzheimer’s disease and cancer combined.Skills passports: An essential part of a fair transition
This month, government will publish its Clean Energy Workforce Strategy. This plan covers two aims. First, filling the growing demand for skills in clean energy industries is essential to keep on track to reach the government’s clean power…Fixing the leak: How to end the £22 billion annual taxpayer losses at the Bank of England
The Bank of England increased its interest rates over recent years, aimed at reducing inflation. But this has also had an unintended effect on the Bank of England’s massive government bond buying – ‘quantitative easing’ – programme.