The Triple Helix Model

 

What is Triple Helix (TH) Model

The triple helix model is a framework that describes the interaction and interdependence between academia, industry and governments to foster economic and social development. The model emphasizes on boosting innovation for a development. It describes the role of university to join hands with industry and government. It explains the social formats for the production, transfer, and application of knowledge. Triple Helix covers the ‘creative destruction’ – a concept coined by Joseph Schumpeter in 1942 which describes that new innovations kill the older ones. This is because innovation arises within each of the three spheres viz., university, industry, and government.

 

Source: wikipedia.org

Triple Helix was developed by Henry Etzkowitz and Loet Leydesdorf in the 1990s. The Triple Helix Model can be described as follows:

1.     University-Industry Interactions-Henry and Loet emphasized on the role of university as to initially provide education to individuals and basic research. The interactions through the involvement of industry managers and university faculty in both sectors, results in the transfer of people between the university and the industry. Thus, its believed that the university flourishes because of research, while the industry grows on research in the universities.

2.   University-Government Interactions-The policy of the government plays a greater role in the development of the community/country. If the government’s policy encourages higher education, there will be growing researches. In addition, since the government is the main source of funding, the government will have bigger influences on universities towards having great innovations. Thus, universities have been able to produce more educated population that build, run, and work for flourishing an economy.

In short, the Triple Helix Model implies the development of a trilateral network of organizational links between university, government and the industry. In the model, universities are regarded as the main source of knowledge and research. This knowledge/research is then leveraged to link up with the industrial processes and to support the growth of new firms, and the development of entrepreneurship in the community/country/society. Then comes the government, who should be providing strategic guidelines for the development of a sectorial and a regional economy of the country, by implementing economic measures towards financing R&D activities. At the end, firms should be concentrating their resources on the R&D activities.

The best example of Triple Helix Model is the Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, is known for its concentration of technology companies, becoming the global leader in innovation and entrepreneurship. Thus, the success of Silicon Valley can be attributed to the Triple Helix Model.

One of the key elements of the TH Model is the close coordination between government, industry, and academia. In case of Silicon Valley, firstly, the government came forward with number of initiatives such as establishment of research parks and provisioning of funds for technology startups. Secondly, the industry players such as technology companies and venture capital firms played a crucial role, providing funding and resources for startups and supporting the development of new technologies. Thirdly, academia, in the form of universities and research institutions has been an important contributor to the success of Silicon Valley. The region is home to a number of universities such as Stanford and Berkeley, which have strong programs in computer science and engineering, producing many leaders and innovators in the technology industry.

The other example of the success of Triple Helix Model is the funding of the physics research by the Department of Defense, Unites States, during World War II and the Cold War.

In summary, the Triple Helix Model has been a key factor in the success of Silicon Valley. The close collaboration between the three spheres has helped to create a fertile environment for innovation and economic growth.