IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ekz/ekonoz/2023203.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Building policy capacities for tackling grand social challenges: Exploring the boundary-spanning potential of university research in the social sciences

Author

Listed:
  • Ainhoa Arrona

    (Orkestra – Basque Institute of Competitiveness and University of Deusto)

  • Edurne Magro

    (Orkestra – Basque Institute of Competitiveness and University of Deusto)

  • James Wilson

    (Orkestra – Basque Institute of Competitiveness and University of Deusto)

Abstract

The emergence of new approaches to regional policy, including the well-known concept of smart specialisation strategies and the need to face grand societal challenges have highlighted the importance of policy capacities among public and private stakeholders. These challenges have increased the pressure on universities and their academic staff to assume more engaged roles within their respective territories. This article explores how social sciences research can contribute to regional policy capacities for tackling social challenges. Specifically, it focuses on the institutional arrangements that universities develop to facilitate engaged research in regions, or what have been labelled «university-based boundary organisations». We suggest that they are a relevant regional instrument due to their integration of knowledge bridging and knowledge coproduction functions. The paper explores how these roles contribute to regional policy capacities through analysis of the case of Orkestra-Basque Institute of Competitiveness, a university-based boundary organisation in the Basque Country.

Suggested Citation

  • Ainhoa Arrona & Edurne Magro & James Wilson, 2023. "Building policy capacities for tackling grand social challenges: Exploring the boundary-spanning potential of university research in the social sciences," EKONOMIAZ. Revista vasca de Economía, Gobierno Vasco / Eusko Jaurlaritza / Basque Government, vol. 104(02), pages 56-77.
    • Handle: RePEc:ekz:ekonoz:2023203
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.euskadi.eus/web01-a2reveko/es/k86aEkonomiazWar/ekonomiaz/downloadPDF?R01HNoPortal=true&idpubl=101®istro=6
    File Function: complete text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    boundary organisation; grand societal challenges; policy capacities; regional policy; university;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation
    • E61 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Policy Objectives; Policy Designs and Consistency; Policy Coordination
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ekz:ekonoz:2023203. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Iñaki Treviño (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/debages.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.