Although there is great interest in the new knowledge economy, less favoured regions seem permanently disadvantaged because they lack a critical mass of knowledge capital to initiate accumulation, growth and economic development processes. This is a problem for policy-makers seeking to promote economic growth and territorial cohesion in such regions. Despite this, examples from two such regions, Newcastle, UK and Twente, the Netherlands, suggests that such companies can be very successful. This paper seeks to develop a conceptual model of how university spin-off companies (USOs) can improve their regional economies. The economic benefits that such companies bring are explored, to identify those elements which can potentially upgrade regional economies through knowledge accumulation, which are termed ‘building up territorial knowledge pools’. This paper concludes by developing a conceptual framework for the operation of the territorial knowledge pool; highlighting four different roles played by USOs in improving regional innovation environments and considering the conceptual and policy implications raised by the framework model.

Purpose: This article seeks to explore the micro‐dimensions of knowledge transfer partnerships (KTPs) with the aim of developing an appreciation of the personal interactions that facilitate the success of these university‐industry collaborations.Design/methodology/approach: Empirical evidence concerning the operation of three KTPs, collected through interviews with the key partners and the review of relevant documentary material, is analysed through the lens of the communities of practice approach to situated learning.Findings: The analysis of three case studies provides evidence to support the value of conceptualising the process of knowledge transfer between universities and industry as one of learning taking place within communities in which the development of mutual engagement, joint enterprise and shared repertoires play important roles facilitating successful collaborations. Moreover, the analysis highlights the significance of the boundary spanning roles of the KTP partners in facilitating the knowledge transfer process through engagement in both the university and industry communities.Research limitations/implications: By illuminating the dimensions of the inter‐personal interactions involved in the knowledge transfer process the CoPs analysis provides the foundations for recommendations to improve university‐industry KTPs, in particular, and, inter‐organisational knowledge transfer initiatives in general. A limitation of this research is its focus on the UK context. Moreover, given the exploratory nature of this study further research is required to verify the findings reported here.Originality/value: The article makes an original empirical and conceptual contribution to understandings of university‐industry knowledge transfer collaborations.

Universities are important players in the global development of knowledge economy, alongside being significant contributors to the economic development of their host cities. They are both significant knowledge enterprises and the suppliers of the human and intellectual capital on which the knowledge-based economy depends. What seems under-explored is how deliberative partnerships between universities and city authorities can develop around projects of mutual benefit, especially based on campus development. In this paper, with the help of five case studies (QUT, MIT, Harvard, Twente and Newcastle universities), we investigate how the spatial development of universities can be one of the main meeting points between the city and university and how it can be used for stimulating economic development and managing growth. These cases show that university—city collaborative initiatives focused on the university properties represent a desire to produce creative and competitive new urban spaces, which reinforce the position of the university and the city in global economy. They also show that these developments need to be jointly managed to avoid undesirable impacts on either side.

The regional role of universities is of increasing concern both to the managers of universities and to regional and national policymakers. Changes in the external environment are having a significant effect on the nature of the university and its approach to managing its interactions with external stakeholders, especially at a regional scale. Changes in the conceptualisation of regional development and in regional strategies also place universities more centrally to new policies. In the UK, since the late 1990s, a number of new national initiatives have dramatically increased the support for regional engagement in parallel with the application of regional level policies towards university activities. In consequence survey evidence suggests a growing focus on local and regional communities in university missions, but with a varying degree of identification for specific territorial scales. New institutional arrangements or responses include internal changes within universities such as new regional offices, and more significantly perhaps new collaborative regional arrangements and associations.

There are different dimensions to the role played by universities in regional innovation. One perspective is to examine the different forms of knowledge and knowledge transfer in the form of commodified knowledge, human capital and social capital. A second perspective is to look at different governance and policy contexts and consider national systems of higher education, national programmes for regional innovation as well as regionally specific interactions. Examples of university engagement in Europe across these different scales are presented. Overall, there is a need for integration and joining up of policies at the regional scale.