Exploring roles for Universities of Applied Sciences in regional innovation ecosystems.

Regional innovation ecosystems are networks of organizations in the public and private sectors of the economy whose activities and relationships contribute positively to innovation in the region. These regional innovation ecosystems often have the same actors with interdependencies, such as governments, organizations, and educational institutions, but not every actor in each ecosystem may have the same role. One of the important actors in such a network is educational institutions, including Universities of Applied Sciences. However, it is unclear what roles Universities of Applied Sciences can play within regional innovation ecosystems. The focus of this PhD research is on exploring these roles to promote innovations.