Doctoral Dissertation Research: Interactions between Higher Education Systems and Industry for Regional Economic Growth/Development

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Given the widely recognized increase in the economic importance of individual skills, organizational knowledge, and technical innovation, higher education systems have been increasingly emphasized in economic growth and development theory and practice. Universities and colleges are recognized as important providers of human capital and contributors to industrial innovation, a key to bring economic growth and development. Many regional economic growth/development policies pursue closer links between higher education systems and industry. The purpose of this research is to understand the role of higher education systems in regional economic growth and development under different regional settings: various firm strategies influenced by firm size, universities and colleges of varying quality, physical and organizational distance, technological match between industry and universities/colleges, and regional institutional arrangements. Diverse channels (labor supply, occupational training, research collaboration, and spin-offs) and different geographies of interactions between higher education systems and industry will be examined in Information Technology-related fields and industry sectors for metropolitan areas in the U.S. Secondary data including patent citation will be analyzed, and a mail questionnaire survey will be conducted both to universities/colleges and firms in three case study areas. This research should contribute to understanding the role of higher education systems in providing human capital and fostering industrial innovation. It will provide an indication of strategies of firms and higher education institutions in their interactions and contribute to building regional policies for industry-higher education system interactions that reflect characteristics of universities/colleges and industry in different settings of regions. The results of this study will be valuable to practitioners in the field of regional economic growth and development. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.