Rita Castro (p), Carlos Pinho, Chiara Mio

Joanna Morawska

The improvement of national innovative capacity has been a challenging issue for wordwide policymakers and has revealed to be a relevant topic in the higher education governance field and in the agenda of Public bodies, national governments, and representative organizations mainly because of its socioeconomic benefits at institutional, regional and national contexts. At the same time, worldwide literature has increasingly recognised the relationships and interconnections between all organizations of the innovation ecosystem as a relevant engine to boost this improvement since their socio-economic benefits. The economic benefits regard the activities related to ‘generation, use, application and exploitation of knowledge and other university capabilities outside the academic environment’ that may be undertaken with the scope of financial vantage at institutional level and the improvement of economic performance at a macro perspective. On the other hand, the social benefits regard a set of services that generate no economic revenue, or at most, has only a partial cost for the end users. Organizational and societal rationales are driving this collaboration, for instance, decreasing levels of funding for HEIs (Higher Education Institutions), low levels of innovation in most business, high rates of unemployment (specially youth unemployment) and lack of competitiveness of many regions and need to create regional innovation ecosystems (Galan-Muros & Davey, 2017). In turn, the Sustainable university concept – SUC - has been recognized by numerous contributions at scientific and doctrinal levels (e.g Thessaloniki Declaration, Cortese, 2003; Marshall et al., 2010) as the guiding principle for Higher education development, taking into consideration its economic, environmental and social roles. Hence, HEIs everywhere have been forced to rethink their role in society and to evaluate the relationships with their stakeholders taking into consideration their expectations towards these benefits (Jongbloed, Enders & Salerno, 2008). This paper aims at contributing to the discussion on the relevance of synergy of the relationships of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and other organizations of innovation ecosystem by proposing na analysis of these relationships in the perspective of Quadruple Helix Innovation Model and taking into consideration the assumptions of Sustainable University concept and the Stakeholders Theory premises. For this scope, these premises are briefly presented and linked. For this scope, these premises are briefly presented and linked. Since this is an insufficiently explored perspective in the specialized literature, this paper modestly tries to contribute to the discussion without intending to end it.

Martina Dal Molin (p), Laura Ciucci, Claudio Detotto, Adriana Carolina Pinate

Rita Castro

The topic of gender gap increasingly attracts the attention of both scholars and policy makers, but it has been scantly addressed in the regional studies literature. This paper aims at filling this gap, by addressing a specific category of high-skilled individual, i.e. Ph.D. holders. Specifically, this paper aims at exploring how gender inequalities among PhD holders have evolved in the recent past and across Italian regions, considering not only the wage gap but also the general working conditions, taking account in particular of the job satisfaction and the degree of education-job (mis)match. To achieve this research objective, two waves of a Retrospective Survey on the Professional Placement of Ph.Ds. (4 and 6 years respectively after graduation), conducted by the Italian National Statistical Institute of Italy (ISTAT) are used. From a methodological point of view, the (Double-Robust) Inverse Probability Weighted Regression Adjustment (IPW-RA) estimator is applied. Our preliminarily results highlight that: i) the gender wage gap is confirmed and appears to be widening over time; ii) the wage gap is observed in all Italian macro-regions, but, while it tends to narrow in the north of Italy, it has increased in the center and south of the country and iii) besides wage differences, our analysis documents a growing gap in the education-job mismatch, in terms of over-education and over-skilling

Madalena Fonseca (p), Jean-Baptiste Maillard, Christophe Terrasse, Leonardo Rios, Mabelín Armenteros Amaya, Maribel Gomez

Martina Dal Molin

While not a novel dimension, the third mission holds significance beyond a mere hierarchical order, following teaching and research. Their denomination as university extension, interinstitutional and community cooperation, university-industry relationships, technology transfer, support for regional development, and social and community assistance cover a wide spectrum of institutional activities. But it underscores its evolution, relevance, and broad scope. The university organisational models and contexts are also immensely diverse, accommodating relationships between the university and the region in their full extent and meaning. As Laredo (2007) notes, “it recalls the role of our evolving understanding of knowledge diffusion and circulation, contributing to its growth”. This diversity holds consequences on its evaluation: project evaluation methodologies focus on end-of-project results with qualitative and quantitative indicators compiled during or immediately after the project. The third mission, however, requires consideration of medium and long-term indicators to assess its impact on the society.
This paper is grounded in the outcomes of the European project Erasmus+ IMPALA - strengthening IMPAct of Latin American universities. Running from 2018 to 2022, it brought together 19 partners, including five European universities from Belgium, Spain, Italy, and Portugal; an international quality assurance agency; twelve universities in Latin America from Colombia, Panama, and Cuba; a Colombian association of 23 public and private business schools; and the Cuban Ministry of Education. The grand objective of the project was to develop appropriate and innovative methodologies and tools for monitoring the third mission.
Drawing on existing theoretical knowledge and a substantial empirical base, IMPALA developed a new impact assessment model. Based on a value chain approach and anchored in the concepts of product, effect and impact as distinct levels of project results, the Impact Assessment Framework (IAF) provides an evaluation tool to evaluate the third mission activities of the university. This paper presents the results of applying the IAF and discusses its applicability and complementary IMPALA methodologies in assessing the impact of the Third Mission.

Maria Adamakou (p), George Petrakos, Xiaohong Wang, Dimitris Kallioras

Madalena Fonseca

In the knowledge era, it is evident that universities have acquired a vital role in fostering sustainable regional development. In many instances, universities are seen as capable actors for promoting the goals of the regions where they function, and for this, traditional teaching and research activities are steered towards the fulfillment of local needs and targets. Through knowledge generation, universities can ensure the sustainable development of regions and can affect various instances of the social, economic, and cultural life as well as the environment of their hosting regions. Therefore, there is a shift in knowledge production from the traditional Mode 1 type to Mode 2, in which research is more closely related to regional needs. In order for universities to fulfill their role as drivers of regional development, they should engage with the region and should establish networks and partnerships with other regional actors, both public and private, who are working in the same direction. This more active role in promoting regional targets can be seen as the third mission of universities. The present paper builds on the pool of regional stakeholders, and through a dedicated survey, it seeks to record and codify their perceptions regarding the overall engagement of the university with the region. The case study is performed in the region of Magnesia (NUTS III region; Greece) and focuses on Confucius Institute at the University of Thessaly. Confucius Institute at the University of Thessaly was established in 2019, under an agreement between University of Thessaly and Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban), in co-operation with Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE) in Beijing. It aims to serve as a bridge between Greece and China in the domain of education, culture, and business. It is in the region of Magnesia, and in the city of Volos in particular. Even though further research is needed, since the regional engagement of universities is in full swing, especially as regards the particular case study, the paper offers valuable insight into both theory and policy making.

Joanna Morawska (p), Elias G. Carayannis

Maria Adamakou

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly raised new questions regarding the future image of the innovation ecosystems, the relations between the main actors of innovation and the challenges they need to face in order to rapidly transform to new modes of operation related to digitalisation, digital transformation (DT) and to become resilient organisations. This includes also universities as the anchors of innovation ecosystems. As we already indicated, this time of global crisis has also accelerated a world-wide debate on related wicked and complex problems and challenges called Sustainable Development Goals (initiated by the United Nations decades ago and proposed in 2015 as Agenda 2030), that gained their momentum. “Green'' and “Digital” have become “big ideas” and leitmotivs of this debate (Carayannis and Morawska-Jancelewicz, 2022). We believe that a future-oriented discussion is needed related to ongoing significant changes in the economy and society that will help to adapt universities or to better respond to undergoing substantial transformation with innovation as the driving force. We focus on two fundamental theoretical constructions that in our opinion play a crucial role in twin transformations, that is the Quadruple/Quintuple Helix framework of innovation ecosystem (Carayannis et al., 2021; Carayannis, 2017; Carayannis, 2021). The second visions is recently discussed concept of Society 5.0 and Industry 5.0 (I5.0 and S5.0) (Carayannis et al., 2021a, b, c; Carayannis & Morawska-Jancelewicz, 2021; Carayannis, 2021a, b, c, d; Carayannis, 2020b; Breque et al, 2021; Fukuyama, 2018) that highlights the need to re-think existing working methods and approaches toward innovation and to focus them on developing human-oriented solutions and social innovation (Morawska-Jancelewicz 2021). We also want to address the practical issues of twin transformations with regard to the skills and competencies needed within universities as well as the organizational or structural changes that would reflect the ongoing processes in the society and economy. We aim to indicate the challenges universities face on the road to digital transformation and green transition and to propose a socially and digitally engaged model as a future vision of a university in I5.0 and S5.0. The conclusions drawn therefrom may add value to the ongoing scientific discourse on the development of (digital)social innovation by universities and their importance for the innovative growth of regions within Q2HM in I5.0 and S5.0.