History and Past Activities
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History and Past Activities |
Merle Jacob
Institute for the Management of Innovation and Technology, Chalmers University of Technology
Gothenburg
Sweden
e-mail: merjac@mot.chalmers.se
Problems in the institutionalization of the production of Mode 2 knowledge: A case study
Decreasing public allocations to universities combined with relevance pressure from both governments and private corporations has contributed to the rise of Mode 2 knowledge production. Given that the European University is still an organization premised on discipline oriented tenured research, many Mode 2 researchers have been encouraged and stimulated to experiment with new forms of organizing the production of knowledge while remaining within the context of the university. This has led to new institutional formats including university based research centers or institutes and long-term research programs. The differing national policy and regulatory contexts in Europe lend an idiosyncratic gloss to the way in which such arrangements may be constituted from country to country.
The lively debate about the transitions in the landscape of knowledge production within the university and society at large fails to address the issues associated with the ‘organizing’ of Mode 2 and how these problems in turn shape and are shaped by the knowledge production objectives of Mode 2 organizations. The paper redresses this problem by focusing on ‘organizing’ in Mode 2. This is achieved through a case study of a particular knowledge exchange program between university and industry in Sweden. The paper argues that the institutionalization of Mode 2 programs has raised some significant problems and insights for the future management of research.
Sociology of Science and Technology NETwork - last update: April 2006