The 20th uddevalla Symposium, 2017

Summary of the Uddevalla Symposium 2017, June 15-17

The 20th Anniversary Uddevalla Symposium 2017 on“Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Industrial Dynamics in Internationalized Regional Economies”, was held at University West, Trollhättan, Sweden on 15-17 June 2017. 113 participants from 23 countries took part. In addition to eleven keynote presentations (in the mornings until lunch), 89 papers were presented and discussed in 20 parallel paper seminars during the afternoons.

The Head of School of Business, Economics & IT, University West, Gunnar Peterson and the chairman of the City of Trollhättan, Paul Åkerlund opened the symposium. Plenary Session Chairs, who also chaired panel discussions, were Dr Iréne Bernhard, University West (Thursday, June 15), Professor Charlie Karlsson, University West & Jönköping International Business School, Sweden (Friday, June 16) and Professor Zoltan J. Acs, George Mason University, USA (Saturday, June 17).

Keynote speakers

The following invited keynote speakers presented recent research from different perspectives in relation to the overall theme:

Prof. Davide Castellani, Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK:“Drivers of International R&D Activities. The Role of Co-Location with Production”

Dr. Mercedes Delgado, MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, and Director of the MIT Lab for Innovation Science & Policy, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA: “Clusters, Shocks, and Economic Resilience”;

Prof. Peter Nijkamp, Vrie University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands:“Cultural Heritage Buzz of Global Cities”

Prof. Roberta Rabellotti, Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Pavia, Italy

Prof. Javier Revilla-Diez, Geographical Institute, University of Cologne, Germany:“The Role of Multinational Enterprises for Regional Restructuring – The Case of Vietnam”

Prof. Annika Rickne, Department of Industrial Economics and Management, The Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, Sweden:“How California Took the Lead in the Global Growth of Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine”

Prof. Helen Simpson, School of Economics Finance and Management University of Bristol, UK:“Place-based Policies and Innovation”

Prof. Olav Sorenson, Yale School of Management, Yale University, USA:“Do Startups Create Good Jobs?”

Assoc. Prof. (Reader) Carsten Sørensen, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK & Visiting Professor, University West, Sweden:“Digital Infrastructure Innovation Dynamics Computing in the Small, in the Large, and at Scale”

Prof. David Storey, University of Sussex, UK:“Regional Entrepreneurship League Tables in England and Wales: The Irrelevance of Policy”

Assoc. Prof. Rosemarie Ziedonis, Questrom School of Business, Boston University, USA: ”Bridging Funding Gaps for Technology Startups: Evidence from Michigan’s R&D Loan Program”.

Sub-themes and chairs

Each paper seminar was organized and presented either within subthemes of the overall theme, chaired by the keynote speakers, or presented in one of the following ten special sessions arranged and chaired by invited scholars from the Uddevalla Symposium Network:

Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Industrial Dynamics in Internationalized Regional Economies
Or
“Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Development Policy: National and Regional”
Chair: Prof. Roger Stough, George Mason University, USA
“Governance and Political Entrepreneurship in Europe´s Economic Crisis”
Chairs: Dr Daniel Silander, Linneaus University, Sweden, Charlotte Silander, Linneaus University, Sweden and Assoc. Prof. Per Assmo, University West, Trollhättan, Sweden
“Regional and Local Implications of the Renewal and Structural Change of the International Economies. Implications on Conditions of Living and Development in Non-Metropolitan Regions”
Chairs: Prof. Andreas P. Cornett & Assoc. Prof. Nils Karl Sørensen, Dep. of Business & Economics, University of Southern Denmark, Sønderborg, Denmark
"Geographical Concentration of Innovation and Creation of New Industries”
Chairs: Prof. Tomomichi Yoshikawa, Waseda Business School, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan and Prof. Hironari Ukai, Aichi Gakuin University, Aichi, Japan
“Local Community Collaboration, Networks and Innovation”
Chairs: Dr Anna Karin Olsson, Assoc. Prof. Ulrika Lundh Snis and Dr Iréne Bernhard, School of Business, Economics and IT, University West, Trollhättan, Sweden
"Work Integrated Learning in a Digital Society” (LINA)
Chairs: Prof. Lars Svensson and Dr Thomas Winman, School of Business, Economics & IT, University West, Trollhättan, Sweden
“Metropolitan Areas, Motors of Change and Socio-Economic Development: Policies Effective for Innovative Labour Markets and Innovative Situations”,
Chair: Professor Helen Lawton Smith, Department of Management, Birkbeck University of London, UK
“Inclusive Innovation and Social Innovation: Evolution of Thought and Practice”
Chairs: Professor Maureen McKelvey, Department of Economy &Society, University of Gothenburg, Sweden and Helen Lawton Smith, Department of Management, Birkbeck University of London, UK
“Urban Economics”
Chair: Johan Lundberg, PhD, President RSAS, Department of Economics, Umeå School of Business and Economics, Umeå University, Sweden
“Special Session in the Honor of Professor Charlie Karlsson”
Chair: Prof. Martin Andersson, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola & Lund University (CIRCLE), Sweden

Best paper Awards

To encourage high-quality papers Best Paper Awards were announced.

The winners of the Best Paper were: Assoc. Prof. Roberto Antonietti and Ass. Prof. Francesca Gambarotto, “Marco Fanno” Department of Economics and Management, University of Padova, Italy. The title of their contribution was: “Assessing the role of industry variety for the creation of innovative start-ups: evidence from Italian local labour market areas”.

The Winner of the Best PhD Candidate Paper Award was PhD Candidate Helena Nilsson, HUI Research & Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping, Sweden. The title of her paper was: “Effects of IKEA Entry – spatial impacts on firm level retail sales”.The Municipality of Uddevalla, Sweden funded these Best Paper Awards. https://symposium.hv.se/awards/

Pre-symposium 14 June

Celebrating the 20^th Uddevalla Symposium a pre-symposium, chaired by Peter Deakin, Chalmers Innovation Office, Gothenburg, Sweden, with regional seminars was arranged together with Innovatum, Trollhättan, on June 14^th entitled “How to create attractive milieus for innovation and entrepreneurship outside the metropolitan regions”.

The pre-symposium started with two presentations from the invited keynote speakers: Carsten Sørensen on: “Digital Transformation, Harnessing Unbounded Innovation” and Javier Revilla-Diez on: “Rural Innovation = Mission Impossible? Some Conceptual and Empirical. Insights from Germany”. Five presentations on different examples and perspectives of innovative development projects that have created or stimulated innovativeness and attractiveness in the region of Västra Götaland of Sweden, were then given by Sofie Allert, Swedish Algae Factory; Dr Anna- Karin Olsson and Dr Iréne Bernhard, University West; Hanna Blomdahl, Region Västra Götaland, Gothenburg, Magnus Lundin, Swedish Incubators & Science Parks, Stockholm and Maria Klingberg, Fyrbodals Hälsoakademi, Region Västra Götaland. Besides this, two panel discussions were held. The pre-symposium attracted more than 30 regional actors from the community of practice representing different firms, municipalities and authorities.

Scientific Committee

Prof. Martin Andersson, Center for Innovation, Research and Competence in the Learning Economy (CIRCLE), Lund University, Jönköping International Business School (JIBS) & Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH), Sweden.
Assoc. Prof. Per Assmo, University West, Trollhättan, Sweden.
Prof. David Audretsch, University of Indiana, Institute for Development Strategies, USA.
Dr. Iréne Bernhard, PhD, University West, Trollhättan, Sweden
Prof. Paul Cheshire, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.
Prof. Andreas. P. Cornett, University of Southern Denmark, Sønderborg, Denmark
Prof. Maryann P. Feldman, University of North Carolina, USA.
Prof. Börje Johansson, Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS), The Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm & Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), Sweden.
Prof. Charlie Karlsson, Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) & University West, Trollhättan, Sweden.
Prof. Helen Lawton Smith, Birkbeck, University of London, UK.
Prof. Mark Partridge, Ohio State University, AED Economics, USA.
Prof. Roger R. Stough, George Mason University, Schar School of Policy and Government, Arlington, VA, USA.
Prof. Lars Svensson, University West, Trollhättan, Sweden.
Prof. Joakim Wincent, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden.

Organisation Committee

Dr. Iréne Bernhard, University West, Trollhättan, Sweden
Dr. Rolf Dahlberg, University West, Trollhättan, Sweden
Ms. Eva Erkmar, University West, Trollhättan, Sweden
Dr. Urban Gråsjö, University West, Trollhättan, Sweden
Prof. Charlie Karlsson, Jönköping International Business School, (JIBS), Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) & University West, Trollhättan, Sweden

Organizers

Organizers of this symposium were University West, (School of Business, Economics & IT and LINA- Learning for the New and Working Life - (Work Integrated Learning), Trollhättan, Sweden.

Co-financers and sponsors

The symposium was also co-financed by the City of Trollhättan, Företagsekonomiska Institutet (FEI), Stockholm, Sweden, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, Region Västra Götaland and the Municipality of Uddevalla, Sweden, for which the organizers are very thankful.

Iréne Bernhard, editor