RESEARCH CENTERS
The metropolitan region of St. Louis and the state of Missouri are attempting to capitalize on the strengths of our education and business communities to foster a competitive economic environment for the advancement of the life sciences, information technology, and advanced manufacturing (FN 1). The mission of the Center for the Study of Regional Competitiveness in Science and Technology is to examine the alignment of people, policy instruments, and partnerships as well as other relevant factors associated with regional scientific and technological growth and production. The center’s research agenda will include but is not limited to the following:
People
What is the status of human capital in the region? A competitive regional context will place a premium on education, training, and other mechanisms to support the development, recruitment, and retention of human capital. Specifically, human capital refers to the knowledge, information, creativity, skills, and health of people (Becker, 2006). Studies of economic growth demonstrate a positive relationship between economic performance and schooling, life expectancy, and other human capital measures. The center will examine relevant attainment indicators and measures of human capital to determine local trends and strengths and limitations relative to other regions in the United States and abroad.
Policy Instruments
What is the state of the policy environment in the region? There is often a lack of systemic knowledge about the relative effectiveness of alternative policy strategies designed to support science and technology. The center will attempt to marry two approaches to policy analysis. Social scientists will identify the assumptions underlying a policy instrument and then attempt to assess the relative costs and benefits. This systematic approach is important, but often provides little practical information for the policy community interested in supporting science and technology. On the other hand, politicians at times select policy options in terms of which key constituents would lose or gain. This real world approach is often ad hoc and idiosyncratic to individual policy makers. Thus, the center will engage in research and programmatic activities organized to link the theoretical work of researchers with the instrumental actions associated with policy development.
Partnerships
What organizational arrangements emerge as part of the regional science and technology efforts? The literature in the sociology of science, technology, and society suggests that many competitive regional contexts are strategically organized into clusters or social networks. In essence, a cluster is a geographic location where the human capital and policy environment are sufficiently advanced to amass the resources and competences to have a competitive advantage over other locations in a particular sector of industry. However, the procedure for categorizing, defining, and measuring a cluster is not standardized. Individual researchers develop their own methodologies. Generally, cluster analysis relies on evaluation of local and regional employment patterns. More recently, alternatives to clusters reflecting rapid globalization have emerged. One activity of the center will be to analyze how relationships among key actors influence the advancement of science and technology in the region. The scholarship in the area of clusters, social networks, and the geography of partners will serve as a starting point.
Products
What is the state of regional progress in the production of commercial assets? A particular focus of the center’s research will examine the technology transfer activities of regional universities in conjunction with the private sector. |
