ISEERG, HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IMPACT ON THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT. THE CASE OF GIPUZKOA

The fundamental mission (first mission) of the university since its conception has been teaching, more specifically conservation and knowledge transfer (Etzkowitz, 2003). However, at the end of the 19th century, the "first academic revolution" took place and most universities embraced a second mission: scientific research. Moreover, it was increasingly expected that universities, in addition to those basic tasks, play major roles in regional innovation and economic growth, often helping to turn around regions in distress. In this new division of labour, referred to as universities’ third mission, academe was increasingly seen as a key provider of new technologies and business ventures, as a regional development engine. Thereby, after this “second academic revolution”, universities were transformed into Entrepreneurial Universities (Etzkowitz, 2003c). Nevertheless, are higher education institutions achieving this third mission? Are higher education institutions working on the socio-economic development of the region?

In order to deal with this situation, the Polytechnic College of Donostia (UPV-EHU)-San Sebastián, the School of Engineering Tecnun (University of Navarra) and Mondragon Unibertsitatea's Faculty of Engineering (financed by Gipuzkoa Provincial Council) are developing a project called ISEERG. The main objective of the project is to validate if the Higher Education Institutions located in the Historical Territory of Gipuzkoa are fulfilling this third mission; in fact, if Gipuzkoa’s Higher Education Institutions have an impact on the socio-economic development of the region. Therefore, the present article describes the theoretical part of this project; in fact, the socio-economic development model.