Practise What You Preach: Innovation Implementation on Campuses of Dutch Research Universities

In all advanced economies, there is a general tendency toward reforms of higher education institutions (HEIs) and education systems. In addition to their traditional educational role, and their second mission of conducting scientific research, they are expected to participate in various types of innovation initiatives as part of their third mission. With the transformation of the universities, the campus usage for innovation processes is also changing. From being the grounds where university buildings are providing settings for basic and applied research, it has become both the birthplace and test ground of innovations. Many universities want to practise what they preach on their own campuses: what is invented here is also applied here. On top of that, they want to set a good example of being innovative institutions, not only academically, but also in campus management and services. However, the scope and dynamics of the implementation of their own innovative ideas vary significantly. It is clear that universities need to develop their campus according to their own conditions/needs and features. But while some universities take the opportunity for wider adoption of on-campus innovations to support university performance, others are not as successful in the innovation implementation for many reasons. In this article both the drivers and the barriers that may hinder the implementation of campus innovations at Dutch research universities are studied.