"In the twenty-first century, universities are part of systems of innovation spanning the globe. While there is nothing new in universities' links with industry, what is recent is their role as territorial actors. It is government policy in many countries that universities, and in some countries national laboratories, stimulate regional or local economic development. They are expected to be at the heart of networked structures contributing to the growth of productive knowledge-oriented clusters." "Universities, Innovation and the Economy explores the implications of this expectation. Its purpose is to situate this new role within the context of broader political histories, comparing how countries in Europe and North America have balanced the traditional roles of teaching and research with that of exploitation of research and defining a territorial role." "Helen Lawton Smith highlights how pressure, both from the state and from industry, has produced new paradigms of accountability that include responsibilities for regional development. This book utilizes empirical evidence gained from studies conducted in both North American and Europe to provide an overview of the changing geography of university-industry links."--BOOK JACKET.