The roles of universities in Chinese regional innovation systems

This paper is aimed to understand the role of universities in regional innovation systems in China. It particularly examines how the Chinese practices concerning the universities' engagement with the society for promoting regional innovation systems are different from the western experiences which has been often understood within the Triple Helix framework (Etzkowitz & Leydesdorff, 1995, 1997). By focusing on China's leading metropolis, Shanghai, and taking Tongji Creative Cluster as a case study, the paper finds that although Triple Helix model was introduced in China as a guiding principle, the practices are actually following another model. It is interpreted as a state-led model, with constant interaction between the university and the industry and with the government controlling and coordinating their internal and external relations. The paper also recognises the possibility of generalising the experiences of Shanghai to other regions of China while pointing out its unique characteristics which are unlikely to be applicable elsewhere.