About Triple Helix

The Triple Helix approach, developed by Henry Etzkowitz e Loet Leydesdorff, is based in the perspective of University as a leader of the relationship with Industry and Government, to generate new knowledge, innovation and economic development. Innovation is comprehended as a resultant from a complex and dynamic process from experiences in the relations between science, technology, research and development in university, industry and government, in a spiral of endless transitions.

The argument is based in the revision of the relationship between University and Society where a second academic revolution is occurring and University incorporate a third mission, beyond teaching and research, as a active player in the economic development through creating scientific and technological knowledge and, consequent, innovation. The research groups acts as a quasi-firms and interact with other spheres or helix actors. As a consequence, an Entrepreneurial University emerges where the relationship between the helix has different configurations. Intermediation elements and organizations are also structured as spin-off companies, incubators and technological parks; intellectual property and technology commercialization offices; networks of knowledge; local productive and innovation arrangements and systems; and corporative universities among others.

The approach understand the interaction between the three helix as a way of identify and deal with questions related with deep changes in the economic, institutional and intellectual world due a society organized in knowledge basis. These interactions occur in many levels and result in: 1) an internal transformations in each sphere; 2) an influence from organizations of one sphere in the others as result of existent relations; 3) the creation of new structures due to the overlap resulted by the interaction between the helix; and 4) a recursive effect among these three levels. The networks create new dynamics of intentions, strategies and projects which add an important value, in the organization and harmonization process, in the existent infra-structure to reach your targets. Each actor from a sphere keeps considerable autonomy, but simultaneously assumes new rules and a new comprehension and conformation of the economic dynamic.

Triple Helix approach was developed as an ex-post concept, as a reality of developed countries where innovation has been associated with business based in R&D activities. In the way that the rule of codified knowledge in innovation has increased, research universities start to play fundamental function in this process. The reality of developing countries and Brazilian reality, in particular, is too different. The transformations in the world economic scenery placed these countries in the challenge of converge efforts to improve productive systems and structure innovative systems through generation, accumulation and application of knowledge, and additionally, obtain comparative advantages needed to the well succeed integration in the international market of goods and services. In this context, triple helix metaphor is utile as an analytical frame to comprehend innovation process and to propose and implement public policies, especially in science, technology and innovation with the objective to enlarge and support the interaction between the actors of different helix.

Triple Helix has been diffused in Brazil by THERG members since 1999 with the organization of Workshop Rio Triple Helix (1999), Rio 2000 – Third International Triple Helix Conference (2000), the execution of several studies and research projects and a wide interaction with international research groups involved with these thematic.