New indicators and indexes for benchmarking university-industry-government innovation in medical and life science clusters: Results from the European FP7 Regions of Knowledge HealthTIES project

Laurel D. Edmunds; Silvia Gluderer; Pavel V. Ovseiko; Roel Kamerling; Jacqueline Ton; Laura Vis; Mario Jenni; Gregory Tutton; Helen Lawton-Smith; Márta Völgyiné Nadabán; Máté Rab; Jon Rees; John Anson; Alexander D. Rushforth; Maxine Allen; Alastair M. Buchan; Montserrat Vendrell; Alex Casta; Gábor Mehes; Pancras C.W. Hogendoorn; Ernst Hafen; A. Bassim Hassan

doi:10.1186/s12961-019-0414-5

New indicators and indexes for benchmarking university-industry-government innovation in medical and life science clusters: Results from the European FP7 Regions of Knowledge HealthTIES project

Laurel D. Edmunds, Silvia Gluderer, Pavel V. Ovseiko, Roel Kamerling, Jacqueline Ton, Laura Vis, Mario Jenni, Gregory Tutton, Helen Lawton-Smith, Márta Völgyiné Nadabán, Máté Rab, Jon Rees, John Anson, Alexander D. Rushforth, Maxine Allen, Alastair M. Buchan, Montserrat Vendrell, Alex Casta, Gábor Mehes, Pancras C.W. HogendoornErnst Hafen, A. Bassim Hassan

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13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: While the European Union is striving to become the 'Innovation Union', there remains a lack of quantifiable indicators to compare and benchmark regional innovation clusters. To address this issue, a HealthTIES (Healthcare, Technology and Innovation for Economic Success) consortium was funded by the European Union's Regions of Knowledge initiative, research and innovation funding programme FP7. HealthTIES examined whether the health technology innovation cycle was functioning differently in five European regional innovation clusters and proposed regional and joint actions to improve their performance. The clusters included BioCat (Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain), Medical Delta (Leiden, Rotterdam and Delft, South Holland, Netherlands), Oxford and Thames Valley (United Kingdom), Life Science Zürich (Switzerland), and Innova Észak-Alföld (Debrecen, Hungary). Methods: Appreciation of the 'triple helix' of university-industry-government innovation provided the impetus for the development of two quantifiable innovation indexes and related indicators. The HealthTIES H-index is calculated for disease and technology platforms based on the h-index proposed by Hirsch. The HealthTIES Innovation Index is calculated for regions based on 32 relevant quantitative and discriminative indicators grouped into 12 categories and 3 innovation phases, namely 'Input' (n = 12), 'Innovation System' (n = 9) and 'Output' (n = 11). Results: The HealthTIES regions had developed relatively similar disease and technology platform profiles, yet with distinctive strengths and weaknesses. The regional profiles of the innovation cycle in each of the three phases were surprisingly divergent. Comparative assessments based on the indicators and indexes helped identify and share best practice and inform regional and joint action plans to strengthen the competitiveness of the HealthTIES regions. Conclusion: The HealthTIES indicators and indexes provide useful practical tools for the measurement and benchmarking of university-industry-government innovation in European medical and life science clusters. They are validated internally within the HealthTIES consortium and appear to have a degree of external prima facie validity. Potentially, the tools and accompanying analyses can be used beyond the HealthTIES consortium to inform other regional governments, researchers and, possibly, large companies searching for their next location, analyse and benchmark 'triple helix' dynamics within their own networks over time, and to develop integrated public-private and cross-regional research and innovation strategies in Europe and beyond.

Original language	English
Article number	10
Number of pages	22
Journal	Health Research Policy and Systems
Volume	17
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-019-0414-5
Publication status	Published - 28 Jan 2019

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
HealthTIES was funded by an EU FP7 Regions of Knowledge award No. 265550. LDE and PVO are supported by the European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme award STARBIOS2 under grant agreement No. 709517. ABH, PVO, LDE, ADR and MA are supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, grant BRC-1215-20008 to the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Oxford. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.

Funding Information:
Background: While the European Union is striving to become the \u2018Innovation Union\u2019, there remains a lack of quantifiable indicators to compare and benchmark regional innovation clusters. To address this issue, a HealthTIES (Healthcare, Technology and Innovation for Economic Success) consortium was funded by the European Union\u2019s Regions of Knowledge initiative, research and innovation funding programme FP7. HealthTIES examined whether the health technology innovation cycle was functioning differently in five European regional innovation clusters and proposed regional and joint actions to improve their performance. The clusters included BioCat (Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain), Medical Delta (Leiden, Rotterdam and Delft, South Holland, Netherlands), Oxford and Thames Valley (United Kingdom), Life Science Z\u00FCrich (Switzerland), and Innova \u00C9szak-Alf\u00F6ld (Debrecen, Hungary).

Funding Information:
Building on the established STI approaches, we report and discuss methods and results pertaining to the development of new HealthTIES (Healthcare, Technology and Innovation for Economic Success) indicators and indexes for benchmarking university\u2013industry\u2013government innovation in European medical and life science clusters. The HealthTIES project was part of the \u20AC126 million (2007\u20132013) Regions of Knowledge initiative supported by the European Commission under the research and innovation funding programme FP7 [37]. The aim of the initiative was \u201Cto support trans-national mutual learning and cooperation between research-driven clusters, bringing together regional authorities and development agencies, public research organisations, industry and other relevant stakeholders\u201D [37]. The main activities developed by HealthTIES to achieve the aims of Regions of Knowledge were to complete a detailed set of quantitative assessments for the analysis of regional clusters, including the development of a \u2018virtual reference cluster\u2019, to develop a mentoring strategy between a highly developed cluster (Life Science Z\u00FCrich) with one less developed (Debrecen, Hungary), and to develop a set of regional action plans to improve the integration of contributors to regional economies.

Funding Information:
BioCat: Bioregion of Catalonia; ERC: European Research Council; EU: European Union; FTE: full-time equivalent; HealthTIES: Healthcare, Technology and Innovation for Economic Success; HT H-index: HealthTIES h-index; R&D: research and development; RIS: Regional Innovation Scoreboard; STI: science, technology and innovation; SWOT: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; TTO: technology transfer office; WAIT: patients Waiting for Access to Innovative Treatment

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s).

Keywords

biotechnology
European Union
innovation index
life sciences
medical sciences
public policy
Regional innovation cluster
Regions of Knowledge
triple helix
university-industry-government innovation

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Edmunds, L. D., Gluderer, S., Ovseiko, P. V., Kamerling, R., Ton, J., Vis, L., Jenni, M., Tutton, G., Lawton-Smith, H., Nadabán, M. V., Rab, M., Rees, J., Anson, J., Rushforth, A. D., Allen, M., Buchan, A. M., Vendrell, M., Casta, A., Mehes, G., ... Hassan, A. B. (2019). New indicators and indexes for benchmarking university-industry-government innovation in medical and life science clusters: Results from the European FP7 Regions of Knowledge HealthTIES project. Health Research Policy and Systems, 17(1), Article 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-019-0414-5

@article{4f20476eed1948d7b0074a3757b91f1f,

title = "New indicators and indexes for benchmarking university-industry-government innovation in medical and life science clusters: Results from the European FP7 Regions of Knowledge HealthTIES project",

abstract = "Background: While the European Union is striving to become the 'Innovation Union', there remains a lack of quantifiable indicators to compare and benchmark regional innovation clusters. To address this issue, a HealthTIES (Healthcare, Technology and Innovation for Economic Success) consortium was funded by the European Union's Regions of Knowledge initiative, research and innovation funding programme FP7. HealthTIES examined whether the health technology innovation cycle was functioning differently in five European regional innovation clusters and proposed regional and joint actions to improve their performance. The clusters included BioCat (Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain), Medical Delta (Leiden, Rotterdam and Delft, South Holland, Netherlands), Oxford and Thames Valley (United Kingdom), Life Science Z{\"u}rich (Switzerland), and Innova {\'E}szak-Alf{\"o}ld (Debrecen, Hungary). Methods: Appreciation of the 'triple helix' of university-industry-government innovation provided the impetus for the development of two quantifiable innovation indexes and related indicators. The HealthTIES H-index is calculated for disease and technology platforms based on the h-index proposed by Hirsch. The HealthTIES Innovation Index is calculated for regions based on 32 relevant quantitative and discriminative indicators grouped into 12 categories and 3 innovation phases, namely 'Input' (n = 12), 'Innovation System' (n = 9) and 'Output' (n = 11). Results: The HealthTIES regions had developed relatively similar disease and technology platform profiles, yet with distinctive strengths and weaknesses. The regional profiles of the innovation cycle in each of the three phases were surprisingly divergent. Comparative assessments based on the indicators and indexes helped identify and share best practice and inform regional and joint action plans to strengthen the competitiveness of the HealthTIES regions. Conclusion: The HealthTIES indicators and indexes provide useful practical tools for the measurement and benchmarking of university-industry-government innovation in European medical and life science clusters. They are validated internally within the HealthTIES consortium and appear to have a degree of external prima facie validity. Potentially, the tools and accompanying analyses can be used beyond the HealthTIES consortium to inform other regional governments, researchers and, possibly, large companies searching for their next location, analyse and benchmark 'triple helix' dynamics within their own networks over time, and to develop integrated public-private and cross-regional research and innovation strategies in Europe and beyond.",

keywords = "biotechnology, European Union, innovation index, life sciences, medical sciences, public policy, Regional innovation cluster, Regions of Knowledge, triple helix, university-industry-government innovation",

author = "Edmunds, {Laurel D.} and Silvia Gluderer and Ovseiko, {Pavel V.} and Roel Kamerling and Jacqueline Ton and Laura Vis and Mario Jenni and Gregory Tutton and Helen Lawton-Smith and Nadab{\'a}n, {M{\'a}rta V{\"o}lgyin{\'e}} and M{\'a}t{\'e} Rab and Jon Rees and John Anson and Rushforth, {Alexander D.} and Maxine Allen and Buchan, {Alastair M.} and Montserrat Vendrell and Alex Casta and G{\'a}bor Mehes and Hogendoorn, {Pancras C.W.} and Ernst Hafen and Hassan, {A. Bassim}",

note = "Funding Information: HealthTIES was funded by an EU FP7 Regions of Knowledge award No. 265550. LDE and PVO are supported by the European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme award STARBIOS2 under grant agreement No. 709517. ABH, PVO, LDE, ADR and MA are supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, grant BRC-1215-20008 to the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Oxford. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. Funding Information: Background: While the European Union is striving to become the \u2018Innovation Union\u2019, there remains a lack of quantifiable indicators to compare and benchmark regional innovation clusters. To address this issue, a HealthTIES (Healthcare, Technology and Innovation for Economic Success) consortium was funded by the European Union\u2019s Regions of Knowledge initiative, research and innovation funding programme FP7. HealthTIES examined whether the health technology innovation cycle was functioning differently in five European regional innovation clusters and proposed regional and joint actions to improve their performance. The clusters included BioCat (Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain), Medical Delta (Leiden, Rotterdam and Delft, South Holland, Netherlands), Oxford and Thames Valley (United Kingdom), Life Science Z\u00FCrich (Switzerland), and Innova \u00C9szak-Alf\u00F6ld (Debrecen, Hungary). Funding Information: Building on the established STI approaches, we report and discuss methods and results pertaining to the development of new HealthTIES (Healthcare, Technology and Innovation for Economic Success) indicators and indexes for benchmarking university\u2013industry\u2013government innovation in European medical and life science clusters. The HealthTIES project was part of the \u20AC126 million (2007\u20132013) Regions of Knowledge initiative supported by the European Commission under the research and innovation funding programme FP7 [37]. The aim of the initiative was \u201Cto support trans-national mutual learning and cooperation between research-driven clusters, bringing together regional authorities and development agencies, public research organisations, industry and other relevant stakeholders\u201D [37]. The main activities developed by HealthTIES to achieve the aims of Regions of Knowledge were to complete a detailed set of quantitative assessments for the analysis of regional clusters, including the development of a \u2018virtual reference cluster\u2019, to develop a mentoring strategy between a highly developed cluster (Life Science Z\u00FCrich) with one less developed (Debrecen, Hungary), and to develop a set of regional action plans to improve the integration of contributors to regional economies. Funding Information: BioCat: Bioregion of Catalonia; ERC: European Research Council; EU: European Union; FTE: full-time equivalent; HealthTIES: Healthcare, Technology and Innovation for Economic Success; HT H-index: HealthTIES h-index; R&D: research and development; RIS: Regional Innovation Scoreboard; STI: science, technology and innovation; SWOT: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; TTO: technology transfer office; WAIT: patients Waiting for Access to Innovative Treatment Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 The Author(s).",

year = "2019",

month = jan,

day = "28",

doi = "10.1186/s12961-019-0414-5",

language = "English",

volume = "17",

journal = "Health Research Policy and Systems",

issn = "1478-4505",

publisher = "BioMed Central",

number = "1",

}

Edmunds, LD, Gluderer, S, Ovseiko, PV, Kamerling, R, Ton, J, Vis, L, Jenni, M, Tutton, G, Lawton-Smith, H, Nadabán, MV, Rab, M, Rees, J, Anson, J, Rushforth, AD, Allen, M, Buchan, AM, Vendrell, M, Casta, A, Mehes, G, Hogendoorn, PCW, Hafen, E & Hassan, AB 2019, 'New indicators and indexes for benchmarking university-industry-government innovation in medical and life science clusters: Results from the European FP7 Regions of Knowledge HealthTIES project', Health Research Policy and Systems, vol. 17, no. 1, 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-019-0414-5

New indicators and indexes for benchmarking university-industry-government innovation in medical and life science clusters: Results from the European FP7 Regions of Knowledge HealthTIES project. / Edmunds, Laurel D.; Gluderer, Silvia; Ovseiko, Pavel V. et al.
In: Health Research Policy and Systems, Vol. 17, No. 1, 10, 28.01.2019.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - New indicators and indexes for benchmarking university-industry-government innovation in medical and life science clusters

T2 - Results from the European FP7 Regions of Knowledge HealthTIES project

AU - Edmunds, Laurel D.

AU - Gluderer, Silvia

AU - Ovseiko, Pavel V.

AU - Kamerling, Roel

AU - Ton, Jacqueline

AU - Vis, Laura

AU - Jenni, Mario

AU - Tutton, Gregory

AU - Lawton-Smith, Helen

AU - Nadabán, Márta Völgyiné

AU - Rab, Máté

AU - Rees, Jon

AU - Anson, John

AU - Rushforth, Alexander D.

AU - Allen, Maxine

AU - Buchan, Alastair M.

AU - Vendrell, Montserrat

AU - Casta, Alex

AU - Mehes, Gábor

AU - Hogendoorn, Pancras C.W.

AU - Hafen, Ernst

AU - Hassan, A. Bassim

N1 - Funding Information: HealthTIES was funded by an EU FP7 Regions of Knowledge award No. 265550. LDE and PVO are supported by the European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme award STARBIOS2 under grant agreement No. 709517. ABH, PVO, LDE, ADR and MA are supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, grant BRC-1215-20008 to the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Oxford. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. Funding Information: Background: While the European Union is striving to become the \u2018Innovation Union\u2019, there remains a lack of quantifiable indicators to compare and benchmark regional innovation clusters. To address this issue, a HealthTIES (Healthcare, Technology and Innovation for Economic Success) consortium was funded by the European Union\u2019s Regions of Knowledge initiative, research and innovation funding programme FP7. HealthTIES examined whether the health technology innovation cycle was functioning differently in five European regional innovation clusters and proposed regional and joint actions to improve their performance. The clusters included BioCat (Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain), Medical Delta (Leiden, Rotterdam and Delft, South Holland, Netherlands), Oxford and Thames Valley (United Kingdom), Life Science Z\u00FCrich (Switzerland), and Innova \u00C9szak-Alf\u00F6ld (Debrecen, Hungary). Funding Information: Building on the established STI approaches, we report and discuss methods and results pertaining to the development of new HealthTIES (Healthcare, Technology and Innovation for Economic Success) indicators and indexes for benchmarking university\u2013industry\u2013government innovation in European medical and life science clusters. The HealthTIES project was part of the \u20AC126 million (2007\u20132013) Regions of Knowledge initiative supported by the European Commission under the research and innovation funding programme FP7 [37]. The aim of the initiative was \u201Cto support trans-national mutual learning and cooperation between research-driven clusters, bringing together regional authorities and development agencies, public research organisations, industry and other relevant stakeholders\u201D [37]. The main activities developed by HealthTIES to achieve the aims of Regions of Knowledge were to complete a detailed set of quantitative assessments for the analysis of regional clusters, including the development of a \u2018virtual reference cluster\u2019, to develop a mentoring strategy between a highly developed cluster (Life Science Z\u00FCrich) with one less developed (Debrecen, Hungary), and to develop a set of regional action plans to improve the integration of contributors to regional economies. Funding Information: BioCat: Bioregion of Catalonia; ERC: European Research Council; EU: European Union; FTE: full-time equivalent; HealthTIES: Healthcare, Technology and Innovation for Economic Success; HT H-index: HealthTIES h-index; R&D: research and development; RIS: Regional Innovation Scoreboard; STI: science, technology and innovation; SWOT: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; TTO: technology transfer office; WAIT: patients Waiting for Access to Innovative Treatment Publisher Copyright: © 2019 The Author(s).

PY - 2019/1/28

Y1 - 2019/1/28

N2 - Background: While the European Union is striving to become the 'Innovation Union', there remains a lack of quantifiable indicators to compare and benchmark regional innovation clusters. To address this issue, a HealthTIES (Healthcare, Technology and Innovation for Economic Success) consortium was funded by the European Union's Regions of Knowledge initiative, research and innovation funding programme FP7. HealthTIES examined whether the health technology innovation cycle was functioning differently in five European regional innovation clusters and proposed regional and joint actions to improve their performance. The clusters included BioCat (Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain), Medical Delta (Leiden, Rotterdam and Delft, South Holland, Netherlands), Oxford and Thames Valley (United Kingdom), Life Science Zürich (Switzerland), and Innova Észak-Alföld (Debrecen, Hungary). Methods: Appreciation of the 'triple helix' of university-industry-government innovation provided the impetus for the development of two quantifiable innovation indexes and related indicators. The HealthTIES H-index is calculated for disease and technology platforms based on the h-index proposed by Hirsch. The HealthTIES Innovation Index is calculated for regions based on 32 relevant quantitative and discriminative indicators grouped into 12 categories and 3 innovation phases, namely 'Input' (n = 12), 'Innovation System' (n = 9) and 'Output' (n = 11). Results: The HealthTIES regions had developed relatively similar disease and technology platform profiles, yet with distinctive strengths and weaknesses. The regional profiles of the innovation cycle in each of the three phases were surprisingly divergent. Comparative assessments based on the indicators and indexes helped identify and share best practice and inform regional and joint action plans to strengthen the competitiveness of the HealthTIES regions. Conclusion: The HealthTIES indicators and indexes provide useful practical tools for the measurement and benchmarking of university-industry-government innovation in European medical and life science clusters. They are validated internally within the HealthTIES consortium and appear to have a degree of external prima facie validity. Potentially, the tools and accompanying analyses can be used beyond the HealthTIES consortium to inform other regional governments, researchers and, possibly, large companies searching for their next location, analyse and benchmark 'triple helix' dynamics within their own networks over time, and to develop integrated public-private and cross-regional research and innovation strategies in Europe and beyond.

AB - Background: While the European Union is striving to become the 'Innovation Union', there remains a lack of quantifiable indicators to compare and benchmark regional innovation clusters. To address this issue, a HealthTIES (Healthcare, Technology and Innovation for Economic Success) consortium was funded by the European Union's Regions of Knowledge initiative, research and innovation funding programme FP7. HealthTIES examined whether the health technology innovation cycle was functioning differently in five European regional innovation clusters and proposed regional and joint actions to improve their performance. The clusters included BioCat (Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain), Medical Delta (Leiden, Rotterdam and Delft, South Holland, Netherlands), Oxford and Thames Valley (United Kingdom), Life Science Zürich (Switzerland), and Innova Észak-Alföld (Debrecen, Hungary). Methods: Appreciation of the 'triple helix' of university-industry-government innovation provided the impetus for the development of two quantifiable innovation indexes and related indicators. The HealthTIES H-index is calculated for disease and technology platforms based on the h-index proposed by Hirsch. The HealthTIES Innovation Index is calculated for regions based on 32 relevant quantitative and discriminative indicators grouped into 12 categories and 3 innovation phases, namely 'Input' (n = 12), 'Innovation System' (n = 9) and 'Output' (n = 11). Results: The HealthTIES regions had developed relatively similar disease and technology platform profiles, yet with distinctive strengths and weaknesses. The regional profiles of the innovation cycle in each of the three phases were surprisingly divergent. Comparative assessments based on the indicators and indexes helped identify and share best practice and inform regional and joint action plans to strengthen the competitiveness of the HealthTIES regions. Conclusion: The HealthTIES indicators and indexes provide useful practical tools for the measurement and benchmarking of university-industry-government innovation in European medical and life science clusters. They are validated internally within the HealthTIES consortium and appear to have a degree of external prima facie validity. Potentially, the tools and accompanying analyses can be used beyond the HealthTIES consortium to inform other regional governments, researchers and, possibly, large companies searching for their next location, analyse and benchmark 'triple helix' dynamics within their own networks over time, and to develop integrated public-private and cross-regional research and innovation strategies in Europe and beyond.

KW - biotechnology

KW - European Union

KW - innovation index

KW - life sciences

KW - medical sciences

KW - public policy

KW - Regional innovation cluster

KW - Regions of Knowledge

KW - triple helix

KW - university-industry-government innovation

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U2 - 10.1186/s12961-019-0414-5

DO - 10.1186/s12961-019-0414-5

M3 - Article

C2 - 30691504

AN - SCOPUS:85060612887

SN - 1478-4505

VL - 17

JO - Health Research Policy and Systems

JF - Health Research Policy and Systems

IS - 1

M1 - 10

ER -

New indicators and indexes for benchmarking university-industry-government innovation in medical and life science clusters: Results from the European FP7 Regions of Knowledge HealthTIES project

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