Dave MOBHE BOKOKO PhD Student MRSH ULCO, 21 Quai de la Citadelle – 59383 Dunkerque cedex 01 dave.mobhe@univ-littoral.fr

Thesis title: « Responsible University as actor of the development a responsible innovation ecosystem: leverage effect of USR charters and labels »

Supervision :

Mrs Blandine LAPERCHE, Professeure HDR, Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale, Laboratoire Innovation et Stratégies Industrielles (ISI)

Summary :

Universities are now considered to be at the heart of innovation processes through their missions of production, dissemination and application of knowledge. The concepts of the « triple (or even quadruple or quintuple) helix » or « entrepreneurial university » testify to the important role played by the university and its relations with other stakeholders in the development of an innovation ecosystem. The university, through its missions, promotes the accumulation of knowledge with the consequence of making its environment (ecosystem) conducive to the transfer of technology and the development of innovations. In this way, the university also contributes to the economic development of the territories. The concept of the « quintuple helix » also shows that the university’s missions are based on the principle of « social ecology », i.e. on an interaction between the economic, social and environmental spheres. However, most of the work on the valorisation of research places greater emphasis on the economic and technological dimensions (registration of patents and other intellectual property rights, the amount of resources resulting from partnership research contracts and other services, etc.). However, a few studies seek to establish the link between social responsibility and universities. Most of them are case studies, which shows the need to strengthen the conceptualisation of universities’ social responsibility.

Therefore, the role of the university in implementing forms of responsible innovation, with a focus on social and environmental dimensions, is increasingly becoming part of current debates. From this stems our research problem which aims at defining the contours and actions of a « responsible » university: « How to define the responsibility of a university and what roles can it play in the economic and social development of territories (construction of an ecosystem of responsible innovation)? ». This topic is part of a cooperation with the Agence Universitaire Francophone (AUF), through its ACTIF (Action pour l’innovation francophone 2019-2022), for the development and implementation of the « Label francophone d’innovation responsable ». This Label aims to identify, develop and promote responsible innovation in French-speaking universities. It is a tool designed to support and strengthen universities in their role as operators in the sustainable development .

Funding :

This thesis is financed by the Université du Littoral Cote d’Opale (ULCO) and the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF).

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