TUSUR delegates discussed the role of universities in modern economy at the international conference in Great Britain

The seventh international Triple Helix Conference on university, industry and government linkages took place in Glasgow (Great Britain) on June 17–18, 2009.

The seventh international Triple Helix Conference on university, industry and government linkages took place in Glasgow (Great Britain) on June 17–18, 2009.

The seventh international Triple Helix Conference on university, industry and government linkages took place in Glasgow (Great Britain) on June 17–18, 2009.

More than 200 people from 44 countries took part in the conference which focused this time on «The Role of Triple Helix in the Global Agenda of Innovation, Competitiveness and Sustainability». Russia was represented by the delegation of Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics: Alexander F. Uvarov, Vice-Rector for Economic Affairs, and v. V. Pudkov, Executive Director of the R&D Commercialization Office.

The main topic for discussion at this conference, bringing together policy-makers, academics, researchers, postgraduate students, and key representatives from business and industry, was the role of universities as catalysts of economic growth and accelerators of innovations.

At the first plenary session government representatives from Great Britain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Brazil described the systems and programs of research, education and innovation support in their countries, and discussed the role of authorities in the «Triple Helix» model. Conference sessions focused on detailed discussion of cooperation and possible options of innovation support by public authorities.

Alexander F. Uvarov made a presentation entitled «Elements of Successful Cooperation between Government, Industry and Universities in Siberia». Participants demonstrated significant interest towards this report, asking numerous questions and offering their recommendations. It is particularly important for a university to have PhD holders among its faculty members to be recognized by the international community.

TUSUR delegation also conducted negotiations with some representatives of Triple Helix community, namely: professor of Newcastle University (Great Britain) Henry Etzkowitz and professor of Amsterdam University (the Netherlands) Loet Leydesdorff, and discussed the possibility of a similar conference in Tomsk.

In the photo: A. F. Uvarov at University of Strathclyde, Glasgow that hosted the conference