Vol 6 - Issue 3

Technology and Innovation

List of Articles

This article presents the context and orientations of the special issue entitled "Research valorisation in small and medium-sized universities", published in the journal Technologie et Innovation. We first define this third mission of research valorisation, which is added to the traditional missions of teaching and research. Then, we present the main themes of the research carried out on this subject and introduce the case and specificities of small and medium-sized universities. Finally, we present the articles that make up this special issue. Using several case studies of small and medium-sized universities in France, but also in Portugal, the authors of this issue emphasize the role that research valorisation can play in anchoring these universities, often young, in their environment. They also focus on the need to network these universities, following the example of the “Lieu network”, developed in Belgium and also presented in this issue.

In a report published in 2016, the French education and research inspectorate, following a negative evaluation of its research activity, proposed to the University of Artois (Region Hauts-de-France) to follow a niche strategy and join a bigger network of universities in order to reach a critical mass. This paper starts from an opposed vision to show that the inspectorate and the government use a distorted assessment to justify the superiority of an Anglo-Saxon model based on the “big is beautiful” concept and competition between universities. In such an environment, the University of Artois has chosen another strategy based on a commitment within the territories it is located in. It has also chosen to use the network effects linked with a good governance to mobilize the specific resources of the territories.

As both a flexible and relatively new concept, the Innovation System (IS) serves as a reference in orienting innovation and/or Science and Technology (S&T) policies. It has, however, been less used in the interrelationship between the productive and educational systems. The valorisation of research makes it possible to forge university-business links by making the results, knowledge and skills of research usable or marketable. Our article highlights the valorisation of university research in the University Picardy Jules Verne (UPJV) and its impact within the Regional Innovation System. What are the forms of its valorization within the framework of the French Small and Medium University (SMU) that it represents? Does it have specificities related to its size? How does it create and transfer knowledge with the local and national productive sector? We will work on all of these questions, using a methodology based on both secondary sources, but above all, on a quantitative and qualitative carried out with central services, VP Research and Laboratory Directors of the UPJV.

This article analyses the conditions under which the valorisation of research can be an opportunity for small
and medium-sized universities. We present and discuss the indicators traditionally used to assess this activity and show
that they correspond to an approach exclusively focused on research, conducted in an environment favourable to close
relations between universities and enterprises. In order to take advantage of this third mission, we consider, based on the organic square of research valorisation, that this activity should be observed in a more systemic way, taking the
interactions between teaching and research missions into account, as well as a set of internal and external factors that
highlight the possible margins for action. We thus illustrate the strategy that can be implemented in less endowed
universities, aiming to build innovation ecosystems favourable to attractiveness, based on the experience of the
Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale (France).

Work-study programs in universities (study between university and enterprise) have multiplied in the last thirty years. The triple helix model makes it possible to identify the relationships between the university, the enterprise and the State in order to produce knowledge and innovate. The State creates the appropriate institutional framework. In the case of learning contracts, the other two stakeholders, endowed with their own resources, pursue various objectives: professionalization of training for the university, competitiveness and innovation for the enterprises. The student, at the center of the learning contract, has the objective to improve their employability. As a transmission belt between the university and the enterprise, they can promote the dissemination of academic knowledge and participate in the emergence of innovations for the benefit of the enterprise. This reflection is based on the study of a Master’s degree in Supply Chain and Modeling under an apprenticeship contract.

In a small and medium-sized university, with a smaller volume of research, the knowledge transfer activities are not restricted to technology transfer alone. The aim is to contribute to the socio-economic development of the region via training and collaboration with companies close to the university. As an example, the Universities of ‘Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles’ have decided to coordinate their efforts through a network (LiEU network - Liaison Entreprises Universités) in the field of knowledge transfer whenever the collaboration brings a real added value and economies of scale. In this article, through this example and on the basis of more than 15 years of experience, we will present the keys to success in order to carry out major common projects and pool resources for knowledge transfer activities.

Public universities in all European countries suffer from enormous constraints and great challenges. The constraints result not only from the external framework and the rapid evolution of economic and social contexts, but also from the balance of internal forces, which is established between training, research, transfer and administration. The transfer of the research results developed within universities, in the different scientific fields, is essential. Universities must strengthen their active role in defining areas of training, research and development (R&D), boosting companies from their internal dynamics and strengthening national and international networks. With this positioning, they cease being isolated cells and become living elements of a creative tissue, in a committed relationship with the other elements of society. An aspect that deserves to be mentioned in this reflection, recalls the approach to the Portuguese case, the requirement of quality, which is a characteristic that must be present at all times in the performance of universities.

This article questions the way in which Building Information Modeling/Management technologies transform the conception and implementation of an urban project. What are the new urban possibilities opened up by these technical evolutions? Especially, can they allow new ways to associate the inhabitants to the production of their urban milieu, through the connection of their knowledge with the professional and industrial actors? We will try to show that if they are included in local projects, taking the territorial specificities into account, and if they are collectively appropriated by the inhabitants, these technologies could give way to a new form of digital urban intelligence, far beyond the dominant model of smart cities.