Events
Regional Innovation Systems: comparative insights on the UK and China
Thursday 17 July 2025Regional Innovation Systems: comparative insights on the UK and China
Simon Collinson, Zhejiang University, China
A joint lecture organised by the Policy Evidence Unit for University Commercialisation and Innovation (UCI) and Cambridge Industrial Innovation Policy.
12:30 – 13:30 | Thursday 17 July (a light lunch will be available from 12:15)
Seminar Room 2, IfM Cambridge, 17 Charles Babbage Road, CB3 0FS
Simon is the Tsingshan Chair Professor in the School of Management, Zhejiang University (SOM, ZJU). He is also an Honorary Professor at the University of Birmingham, where he was Dean of the Business School, the Founding Director of the City-Region Economic Development Institute (City-REDI), and the DPVC for Regional Engagement. Simon is also a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRSA), of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS), of the British Academy of Management FBAM) and of the Chartered Association of Business Schools (FCABS), and an Associate at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at Cambridge University. His research is on international business, regional innovation systems and inclusive regional economic growth, R&D commercialization and the management of productivity and innovation. Intra-firm and inter-firm knowledge exchange, technology transfer, learning and innovation capability development. He has conducted comparative international studies in Kenya, Japan, China, US, UK, Europe and published in JIBS, Research Policy, Organization Studies, Regional Studies, R&D Management, Business History, Science and Public Policy, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, the Academy of Management Perspectives, TASM, MIR, IBR, MBR, IJIM and other journals.
In this lecture, Simon will review the China’s systems of innovation (national and regional) and related institutions, governance structures and policies. He will explore how differences in the role of government and universities, particularly at the provincial and city-region levels, influence the development of innovation capabilities in firms, industry sectors and local clusters. He will make some direct comparisons between the UK’s approach to innovation policy and market intervention mechanisms, and those in China. This seminar intends to stimulate an open discussion about gaps in the empirical evidence and in the current comparative international research on China’s system of innovation.
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