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RSPP Call for Papers | Special Issue on Civic Universities, Ecosystems and Regional Development in Low-Industrial-Density Regions

RSPP Call for Papers

Special Issue on:

Civic Universities, Ecosystems and Regional Development in Low-Industrial-Density Regions

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) play a highly significant role in developing their influence regions, due to its contribution both for intellectual and civic progress. HEIs have the responsibility to become deeply engaged with the societal challenges (Boyer, 2016), since they should be positioned as open institutions, with a proactive role in promoting a sustainable development of regions and people. From here, it results a need to better understand, and define the Civic Universities (CivUs), which play a significant role in fostering the regional development of Low-Industrial-Density Regions.

The idea of civic engagement of the Universities was originally described by Boyer (1996), in what he named as  scholarship of engagement, that is, a construct based on four pillars, namely: (I) the scholarship of discovery, pushing back the frontiers of human knowledge; (II) the scholarship of integration, creating more interdisciplinary conversations; (III) the scholarship of sharing knowledge, being a communal act; and (IV) the application of knowledge, moving from theory to practice back to theory.

In this line of reasoning, the CivUs should be deeply integrated in their communities. As such, CivUs should organize their teaching and researching activities, in order to train future citizens with the focus of entrepreneurship for societal innovation (Goddard and Vallance, 2011). CivUs have the potential for providing viable solutions for several societal problems, such as ageing, degenerative diseases, sustainability, smart mobility solutions, urban living, food security, water management, clean manufacturing, and environmental innovation (Goddard and Vallance, 2012; Unger et al., 2020).

The aim of this special issue is thus to bring together scientific contributions from interconnected research fields, helping to unveil and better understand the role played the CivUs in addressing the societal challenges and the prosecution of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), targeted to a sustainable regional development. Following this rationale, we are welcoming both theoretical and empirical contributions, focused on responding to the guiding g research question, that is: What is the role played by the CivUs in fostering sustainable regional development, especially, in low-industrial-density regions?

Examples of research topics that are considered relevant for this special issue, are as follows:

  • Benchmarks and Good-Practices of Civic Universities
  • Clusters, Industrial Districts and Productivity of Low-Industrial-Density Regions
  • Cross-border Relationships and Sustainable Development
  • Demography and Regional Development of Low-Density Regions
  • Determinants of Performance of Low-Density Regions
  • Efficiency of Higher Education Institutions
  • Geography and Space Determinants of the Performance of Low-Density Regions
  • Higher Educations Institutions and Sustainable Regional Development
  • History, Culture and Development Pathway of Low-Density Regions
  • Intellectual Capital of Higher Education Institutions and Sustainable Regional Development
  • Knowledge and Technology Transfer of Higher Educations Institutions and SDGs
  • Natural Resources and Sustainable Regional Development
  • New Public Policies for Intelligent Smart Specialization Strategies
  • Territorial Competitiveness and Inclusiveness of Low-density-industrial Regions

Planning

There are three alternative ways to select papers for this special issue:

  • A selection of extended abstracts submitted to the 26th APDR Workshop​ will be invited to deliver a full paper.
  • Authors not attending the conferences above mentioned may send an extended abstract (1,200-2,000 words) to the editors until October 30, 2021

Please note that the full paper must be submitted to RSPP by January 31, 2022.

Editors

  • João Leitão, University of Beira Interior, NECE and ICS, University of Lisbon, Portugal This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  
  • Alessandra Faggian, Gran Sasso Science Institute, L’Aquila, Italy This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Martina Dal Molin, Gran Sasso Science Institute, L’Aquila, Italy This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

References

Boyer, E. L. (1996). The scholarship of engagement. Journal of Public Service and Outreach, 1(1), 11-20.

Boyer, E. L. (2016). The scholarship of engagement. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 20(1), 15–28. https://doi.org/10.2307/3824459                

Goddard, John, & Vallance, P. (2012). The civic university: Connecting the global and the local. Universities, Cities and Regions: Loci for Knowledge and Innovation Creation, January, 43–63. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203097144

Unger, M., Marsan, G. A., Meissner, D., Polt, W., & Cervantes, M. (2020). New challenges for universities in the knowledge triangle. Journal of Technology Transfer, 45(3), 806–819. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-018-9699-8

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