The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Anders Hylmö. Photo.

Anders Hylmö

Researcher

Anders Hylmö. Photo.

Will the Center Hold? What Research Centers Do to Universities and to Societal Challenges

Author

  • Mats Benner
  • Anders Hylmö

Editor

  • P. Mattsson
  • E. Perez Vico
  • L. Salö

Summary, in English

Research centers represent a specific organizational format for linking the traditional university organization with external actors, goals, and processes in time-limited, concentrated efforts of research and collaboration. Yet, the center format contains large variations, and centers act as interfaces between university organizations, societal actors, and research funders in multifaceted ways. In this chapter, we focus analytically on the organizational structuration of universities and the influence of external funding on the steering of work modes and orientations of academic research. We ask what centers do, how they affect universities’ operations, and why some centers are more successful than others in their missions. We address these questions through an analysis of six centers within the 10-year Vinn Excellence and Berzelii center schemes run by the Swedish innovation Agency Vinnova, drawing on interviews, evaluation reports, and a broad range of archival data. We highlight great variations in how universities are influenced by center funding, which is most effective when aligned with internal university strategies. Center success depends on the fit and integration of internal and external ambitions, university strategies, and partner orientations. However, such alignment is merely reinforced, rather than altered, by external center support.

Department/s

  • Research Policy

Publishing year

2024

Language

English

Pages

123-140

Publication/Series

Innovation, Technology and Knowledge Management

Volume

Part F2013

Document type

Book chapter

Publisher

Springer Gabler

Topic

  • Social Sciences Interdisciplinary

Keywords

  • Governance
  • Higher education institutions
  • Organization
  • Research funding
  • Steering

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2197-5698
  • ISSN: 2197-5701
  • ISBN: 978-3-031-48799-6
  • ISBN: 978-3-031-48798-9