Updates from the Globalisation, Governance and the Digital Economy research cluster

The Globalisation, Governance and the Digital Economy research cluster at St Mary’s University Twickenham was formed earlier this year and is led by Prof Emanuela Todeva and Prof Merlin Stone.

Since its launch, the cluster has been very active, participating in a range of academic events and producing several articles.

Academic speaks at the session on Establishment of Pakistan Policy Institutes Network-PPIN

In February, Prof Todeva was invited to speak at the inaugural session on the establishment of Pakistan Policy Institutes Network-PPIN.

The meeting was jointly organised by South Asia Triple Helix Association (SATHA) and the Riphah Institute of Public Policy (RIPP) in Islamabad. Over 20 leading policy institutes of the region were represented at the meeting.

Following opening presentations by Dr Nabeel Ahmad, Member of the Governance Planning Commission of Pakistan and Dr Zafar Ullah, Executive Director of the Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Service (PIPS), Prof Todeva addressed the audience with a keynote presentation on ‘Triple Helix and the Role of Government Shaping the Innovation Pathways.’

The discussion was focused on two key concepts of innovation and competitiveness and the role of government in shaping the policies that support these.

Article published in peer-reviewed academic journal

Prof Stone and Dr Eleni Aravopoulou published a research article entitled “Multiple Helices as Agents of Change? The Case of the Neighborhoods of the Future Project and the Development of Direction for Policy and Practice on Health, Happiness and Wellbeing for the next Generation of Older Adults” in peer-reviewed academic journal, Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy.

Academic speaks at 'Smart Regions 2.0 – Maximising Europe’s innovation potential'

Prof Todeva was invited to speak at the second European Conference 'Smart Regions 2.0 – Maximising Europe’s innovation potential'.

In a hard talk discussion, Prof Todeva represented the academia and debated the future of peripheral and sparsely populated regions. Her opponent was Ilkka Kauppinen, CEO of Arctic Warriors in Finland, and they discussed that the challenges for regional development are best handled by multi-stakeholder coalitions of government university and business leaders.

Academics publish article in peer-reviewed academic journal

Three St Mary’s academics published a research article in the peer-reviewed academic journal Bottom Line.

Prof Merlin Stone, Dr Eleni Aravopoulou and Lucy Timms, all from the School of Management and Social Sciences wrote the article entitled 'Business model innovation, strategic information and the role of analyst firms.'

Academic attends UCL Centre for Comparative Study of Emerging Economies annual conference

The GGDE research cluster participated at the second annual conference of the UCL Centre for Comparative Study of Emerging Economies (CCSEE). The conference was focused on the theme of ‘Exploring technology upgrading in emerging and transition economies: From 'Shifting Wealth I' to 'Shifting Wealth II'’.

Prof Todeva was invited to present her work on ‘Biopharma Global Value Chain, and Impediments to Upgrade and Participation of Emerging Economies: The Case of Bulgaria’.

The event was organised jointly by UCL's CCSEE and the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, and attracted delegates from over 20 countries. Presentations and discussions were focused on two key concepts of innovation and competitiveness and the role of government in shaping the policies that support innovation for economic development.

The collaborative paper of Prof Todeva and Dr Donka Keskinova, from the Bulgarian University Paisii Hilendarski in Plovdiv, provided evidence of the relatively fragmentation of the biopharma value chain in Bulgaria and the location of advanced capabilities and linkages between medical instruments, dental and electronic manufacturing, perfumes and cosmetics manufacturing and clinical trials.

Their empirical investigation reveals also a significant inbound and outbound connectivity to the global biopharma value chain with 62 foreign subsidiaries operation in Bulgaria and 42 investment projects of Bulgarian firms in 18 countries around the world.

Academic speaks to delegates from the Education Department in Henan Province in China (PRC)

Prof Todeva was invited to speak at a meeting with a delegation from the Education Department in Henan Province in China (PRC). Prof Todeva spoke about the frontiers of Triple Helix Research, Scholarship and Practice and the role of government.

She joined a panel with Prof Helen Lawton Smith, Birkbeck College, University of London, Dr Federica Rossi, Deputy Director CIMR Birkbeck, University of London, and Prof Alice Zhou, International Triple Helix Institute.

Academic attends Global Entrepreneurial University Metrics workshop

In June, the third workshop of the academic network on Global Entrepreneurial University Metrics (GEUM) took place in Stanford University, Palo Alto with participants and research teams from 13countries.

Prof Todeva was invited to speak at the event representing the UK team on interdisciplinary research and measuring interdisciplinarity. The UK research contribution to GEUM is researching the institutionalisation of interdisciplinary research and practice in UK universities: drivers and challenges and she was joined to speak with Dr Rossi.

The UK project on interdisciplinarity aims to support policymakers in understanding how, and the extent to which, the higher education system is able to potentially exploit additional funding for interdisciplinary research effectively, and to evaluate the organisational structures in the UK higher education institutions enabling cross-disciplinary inputs and outputs.

The scope of the GEUM is to catalyse the development of new metrics including entrepreneurship, gender and diversity and furthering public interest in University ranking systems.