Increased public investment in PhD education to drive innovation has led to a recent rapid growth in the number of PhD graduates. Academic labour markets have not developed at the same pace. An ever-larger share of the graduates is finding employment in industry. The transition from academia to industry is not always easy. The present study aims to provide insights into the role played by PhDs’ networks in the job search after graduation. Our data comprise interviews with industry-employed doctoral graduates in STEM disciplines from Sweden, Norway and the UK. Our findings show that PhDs’ autonomously built personal networks can help match their specific scientific expertise with labour market demands. We distinguish country-specific patterns and characteristics of the transition, in which regional career paths are more (Scandinavia) or less (the UK) noticeable. The study has practical implications, in particular for PhD students and graduates, related to their career orientation.

Objective The Role of Universities in Innovation and Regional Development (RUNIN) is a European Training Network for Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs) in the field of science and innovation studies. The aim of the network is to train researchers on how universities contribute to innovation and economic growth in their regions through research seeking to examine how universities fulfill their third mission in relation to regional industry and explore the range of university engagement with regional firms and institutions. The project operationalises the main research question of how universities can contribute to innovation and regional development through four main themes: People and Networks, Policies and Interventions, Places and Territories, and Practices and Governance. The aim of the training programme is to equip the next generation of researchers with the skills required to work across employment

The major role that the electrification of the energy system is projected to play in the transition to a sustainable economy increases the pressure on the electricity grid and thereby creates a demand for the implementation of smart grid technologies. The interdependencies present in the electricity system require, and have led to, the wide-scale adoption of pilot projects to develop knowledge about the application of these technologies. While the knowledge sharing that stems from these projects is one of the justifications for subsidising these projects, it has remained largely a black box. Based on the analysis of interviews with the project leaders of sixteen smart grid pilot projects, complementary secondary data sources and a survey, we studied knowledge sharing at four levels: intra-organisational, intra-project, inter-project and project-external knowledge sharing. At each level we observed specific sublevels, mechanisms and barriers, resulting in complex knowledge sharing dynamics. While the projects succeeded in developing knowledge, knowledge sharing between projects run by different consortium partners rarely occurred and project-external knowledge sharing was primarily unidirectional and involved generic knowledge. Based on the results a set of recommendations was developed that can stimulate the knowledge sharing and thereby increase the value generated by these projects.

The number of PhD graduates getting employed in industry in the EU has seen significant increase in the past decades. Although studies show generally that personal networks play an important role in the labour market process, little is known about the actual role networks play in the specific case of PhD graduates’ transition from academia to industry. Consequently, this study aims to provide insight into the roles played by PhDs’ networks in the job search after graduation. The study benefits from a social network perspective, in which extended inter-sectoral networks can be of central importance for doctorate holders’ careers. Such extended networks are developed and managed within the broader context of university-industry collaborations to facilitate knowledge exchange between the two sectors. Accordingly, the study builds on the notion of ‘overlapping internal labour markets’, which refers to the emergence of career models based on university-industry links. Our data comprises 31 interviews with industry-employed STEM doctorate holders from Sweden, Norway and the UK. Our findings show that networks can play a facilitating role in matching the PhD’s specific scientific expertise with labour market demands. Further, we elucidate country-specific patterns and characteristics of university-industry transition after PhD graduation, with regional career paths more (Scandinavia) or less (the UK) noticeable. Finally, the study has practical implications, in particular for doctoral students and PhD graduates related to their career orientation post-PhD.

The establishment of a university can be used as policy instrument to revitalize peripheral regions. Such newly established universities tend to experience rapid growth, but little is known about how this affects the labour market for graduates in these regions over time. A quantitative case study, employing individual-level microdata, analyzed changes in the wage levels and mobility of graduates of Aalborg University, which was established in 1974 in the North Denmark region. The analysis shows that the establishment of Aalborg University contributed to the upgrading of the human capital in the region, fulfilling a demand in the labour market, as indicated by wage growth similar to that of the labour market in other regions and a growing percentage of local young people to stay in the region after graduation. Furthermore, the university increased its intake of students from outside the region, who then as graduates dispersed to other parts of the country, thereby serving to supply human capital at the national level. These insights add to our understanding of how a new university can play a role in the economic development of a peripheral region, while at the same time also having impact at the national level. Nevertheless, this instrument is not applicable to all regions in the same way, since local critical mass and regional embeddedness are required to enable a region to absorb a substantial number of graduates and benefit from the presence of the university.

The RUNIN project's Design Lab Think Tank took place on 28th June 2018. Its aim was to discuss the topic of universities' engagement with society, specifically in their region. It used a world cafe format that brought together regional stakeholders to discuss how the University of Twente (UT) can incorporate societal questions in its core activities and, through this, create regional benefits. This report provides a description of the event, a summation of the initiatives proposed and an analysis of the discussion that was prompted by the sub-questions around the subject of universities' societal engagement.