The contribution of students to regional economies

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Shiri Breznitz contributes to the RIS literature by unpacking the RIS concept through exploring this specific aspect of university engagement in regional economies.

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Institution: University of Toronto

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Shiri Breznitz contributes to the regional innovation systems (RIS) literature by unpacking the RIS concept through exploring this specific aspect of university engagement in regional economies.

Image courtesy of interviewee. April 30, 2024

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The speaker, an economic geographer, has focused on regional economic development, particularly the biotechnology industry and its connection to universities. They emphasize the often-overlooked role of students in this context, noting the difficulty in measuring their impact on regional economies. This video video interest led the speaker and their colleagues to produce a special issue on the topic, highlighting findings from a conference session.

The speaker contrasts national and regional systems of innovation, noting that innovation often concentrates in specific regions rather than at a national level. They cite the 1998 study by Cook and Morgan on regional innovation systems, which outlines the importance of higher education and various stakeholders in fostering regional economic growth.

The discussion further delineates the short-term and long-term impacts of universities on local regions, with students contributing significantly in both timeframes. In the short term, students boost local economies through consumption, while in the long term, graduate students tend to stay in their university regions, potentially contributing to local entrepreneurship and technological innovation.

The issue also explores the geographic mobility of students and how this affects entrepreneurship, highlighting the need for regions to provide support and services to retain these individuals. Research presented in the special issue discusses the motivations behind students' decisions to stay in their university regions or return home, often influenced by their familiarity and connections.

In conclusion, the speaker stresses the importance of understanding students' roles in regional innovation systems and how regions can better harness the potential of these educated individuals to foster economic development.

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X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

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I'm an economic geographer,

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and for many years I've worked on regional economic

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development specifically at

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why certain industry develop in certain places.

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Um, and I've focused on the biotechnology industry

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for many years, and I've learned that it tends to center

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around universities.

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Um, so I studied the role

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of universities in regional economic development.

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Through this work, I realized,

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I would say somewhere middle of my career

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that we talk a lot about academic research.

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We talk a lot about, you know, startups

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and contract research.

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We don't talk as much about the role of students,

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and partly it's because it's very hard to be able

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and attribute the fact that students went

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to certain universities, on regional economies,

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and we don't really have a lot of data on students.

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Um, so that's the motivation of this special issue together

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with, professor Laton Smith

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and Akhi San, we all worked on this topic,

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including specifically regional economic development

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and the role of university.

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And, we did a session in,

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actually in regional studies conference in London,

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and we had several colleagues

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that wrote on the role of students.

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And we thought about the special issue as a good way to

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project all that knowledge.

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When we look at, innovation on national levels

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or regional level, the traditional, you know, theories

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that we analyze those through it are

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through either the national systems of innovation

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or the sub theory,

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which is the regional systems of innovation.

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So I'll start with national systems of innovation.

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This is an old, literature that try

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to understand why some countries are more progressed

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with innovation versus others,

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and they looked at different factors,

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including the knowledge base of certain countries.

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But when you start studying these, and especially,

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and you know, I would say that especially even in smaller

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countries, you realize that it's not

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a national system per se.

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The innovation tends to,

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concentrate in regions sometimes in very small

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regions within a country.

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The study of, of the regional,

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regional innovation system was, first published by Cook

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and Morgan in 1998.

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Uh, they have several studies,

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but this, you know, around the idea

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of regional innovation systems

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and they talked about the role of higher education, the role

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of government, you know, regional government and private,

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Uh, players is,

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and you know, more recently we have studies

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that talk about community groups

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and not-for-profit organizations.

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So for somebody like me, and as Professor Laton Smith

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and Bji San who study universities, you know,

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universities are located in a certain region

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and we you start to understand why certain region flourish

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versus others, you can see the role of universities.

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And if you look at political system,

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especially in the US you could see that there is,

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there was over the years a lot of, pressure

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to create to establish universities in certain regions.

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And you can see in regions that have universities,

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especially the ones that in the,

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I think in the UK these will be the red bricks

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universities, right?

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You see how they, you know, these region regions flourish.

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Um, and I think I'm in a ways a little bit jumping

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to another question is question of yours, but partly it is

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because there's a huge difference

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between the short-term impact of universities on the region

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and the long-term impact of students

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of universities on the region.

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Okay? So there's, there's two things.

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So when, when you look at the short-term

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and the long-term impact of universities, you know,

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one component,

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that's very important there is the role of students.

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So when we think of the short term, you think about,

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you know, students moving to the region, they purchase food,

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they rent apartments, they take part-time jobs, right?

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But what is the long-term impact of students?

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So what what we see is that in when the students,

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and especially graduate students,

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after they've been in a region for a long time, they tend

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to stay, right?

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And when they stay, they, you know, if we are connecting

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to the part of an entrepreneurship, they establish firms,

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firms,

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or they, invent new technologies that is,

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developed locally, right?

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So those are things that are really hard to measure,

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and you can do that with, a lot of either, you know,

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interviews or local data that you collect.

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It's very hard by just looking at general statistics

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on, on regions.

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Um, for the question on entrepreneurship, I think it's,

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it's very important to discuss the difference.

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And we, in the, in the special issues,

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there are several papers that talk about the

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mobility of students, right?

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So think about these are young people.

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Um, they are easily mob,

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more easily mobile than, you know, someone like me who have,

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who has kids in high school.

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Uh, we don't tend to move as much, but young people,

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and especially today with, you know, the global economy,

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they go where the jobs are.

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Or even, you know, as Richard Florida said years ago,

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where they wanna be where places are interesting to them

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or they provide services

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that they are interested in. So when

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We come to entrepreneurship, you have

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to add another component to it is, which is what kind

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of services or support does the region provide,

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entrepreneurs, right?

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So students tend to either stay

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or go to areas where the industry

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that they wanna work in is,

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or that they know that the region will support the

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development of their firm.

06:20.595 --> 06:23.245
There's several papers there that talk about the

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two important things.

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One is the difference between urban and and rural areas

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and the pool of, you know, the, the return

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or, so what happens to the students?

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Do they, if they came to the region, are they going back

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or staying or some we have a paper that looked at going

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and moving to somewhere else, right?

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So instead of going back home, they move somewhere else.

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And what they find is that for entrepreneurs,

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there is an advantage to go back to their home region.

06:55.025 --> 06:56.725
And if you think about it, it's, it's not

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that difficult to understand there.

06:57.995 --> 06:59.405
They know their region very well,

06:59.435 --> 07:00.445
they have their connection.

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It's much easier to establish firm.

07:02.345 --> 07:05.365
But on the other hand, we also see that there's a huge pool

07:05.465 --> 07:08.165
of the urban areas over the peripheral.

07:08.585 --> 07:12.645
So people both for employment but also for entrepreneurship,

07:12.645 --> 07:15.125
because there are a lot more resources

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that are available for these students.

07:17.595 --> 07:21.775
Yeah. So there is, so there's, there's two things.

07:21.915 --> 07:23.655
One, it relates to the fact that we,

07:23.805 --> 07:26.895
this special issue actually showed us how important it is

07:27.035 --> 07:29.935
to, study the, the role

07:29.935 --> 07:33.015
of students when we talked about regional innovation system,

07:33.075 --> 07:36.535
but in general in, in eco, the economic development

07:36.675 --> 07:39.015
of certain regions around the world.

07:39.555 --> 07:44.335
Um, and the second part is to consider the, the,

07:44.995 --> 07:49.135
you know, differences, the location, ability to absorb,

07:49.915 --> 07:54.095
the, the spillovers of, of that knowledge,

07:54.095 --> 07:57.575
whether it's students going back to their home, home region,

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or if they're staying in the university region.

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Then how, what should we do to make sure

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that we actually benefit from the fact that we

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got all these brilliant minds into our regions?

Universities and Regional Economic Development Insights

00:00:00 - I'm an economic geographer, and for many years I've worked on regional economic development specifically at why certain industry develop in certain places. and I've focused on the biotechnology industry for many years, and I've learned that it tends to center around universities. so I studied the role of universities in regional economic development. Through this work, I realized, I would say somewhere middle of my career
00:00:37 - We talk a lot about, you know, startups and contract research. We don't talk as much about the role of students, and partly it's because it's very hard to be able and attribute the fact that students went to certain universities, on regional economies, and we don't really have a lot of data on students.
00:01:09 - with, professor Laton Smith and Akhi San, we all worked on this topic, including specifically regional economic development and the role of university. And, we did a session in, actually in regional studies conference in London, and we had several colleagues that wrote on the role of students. And we thought about the special issue as a good way to
00:01:38 - When we look at, innovation on national levels or regional level, the traditional, you know, theories that we analyze those through it are through either the national systems of innovation or the sub theory, which is the regional systems of innovation. So I'll start with national systems of innovation. This is an old, literature that try to understand why some countries are more progressed
00:02:10 - and they looked at different factors, including the knowledge base of certain countries. But when you start studying these, and especially, and you know, I would say that especially even in smaller countries, you realize that it's not a national system per se. The innovation tends to, concentrate in regions sometimes in very small regions within a country. The study of, of the regional, regional innovation system was, first published by Cook
00:02:44 - they have several studies, but this, you know, around the idea of regional innovation systems and they talked about the role of higher education, the role of government, you know, regional government and private, players is, and you know, more recently we have studies that talk about community groups and not-for-profit organizations. So for somebody like me, and as Professor Laton Smith

Impact of Universities on Regional Development

00:03:15 - universities are located in a certain region and we you start to understand why certain region flourish versus others, you can see the role of universities. And if you look at political system, especially in the US you could see that there is, there was over the years a lot of, pressure to create to establish universities in certain regions. And you can see in regions that have universities, especially the ones that in the,
00:03:46 - universities, right? You see how they, you know, these region regions flourish. and I think I'm in a ways a little bit jumping to another question is question of yours, but partly it is because there's a huge difference between the short-term impact of universities on the region and the long-term impact of students of universities on the region. Okay? So there's, there's two things. So when, when you look at the short-term and the long-term impact of universities, you know,
00:04:16 - that's very important there is the role of students. So when we think of the short term, you think about, you know, students moving to the region, they purchase food, they rent apartments, they take part-time jobs, right? But what is the long-term impact of students? So what what we see is that in when the students, and especially graduate students, after they've been in a region for a long time, they tend to stay, right?
00:04:47 - to the part of an entrepreneurship, they establish firms, firms, or they, invent new technologies that is, developed locally, right? So those are things that are really hard to measure, and you can do that with, a lot of either, you know, interviews or local data that you collect. It's very hard by just looking at general statistics on, on regions. for the question on entrepreneurship, I think it's,
00:05:21 - And we, in the, in the special issues, there are several papers that talk about the mobility of students, right? So think about these are young people. they are easily mob, more easily mobile than, you know, someone like me who have, who has kids in high school. we don't tend to move as much, but young people, and especially today with, you know, the global economy, they go where the jobs are. Or even, you know, as Richard Florida said years ago,
00:05:52 - or they provide services that they are interested in. So when We come to entrepreneurship, you have to add another component to it is, which is what kind of services or support does the region provide, entrepreneurs, right? So students tend to either stay or go to areas where the industry that they wanna work in is, or that they know that the region will support the development of their firm.

Impact of Student Mobility on Regional Development

00:06:23 - two important things. One is the difference between urban and and rural areas and the pool of, you know, the, the return or, so what happens to the students? Do they, if they came to the region, are they going back or staying or some we have a paper that looked at going and moving to somewhere else, right? So instead of going back home, they move somewhere else. And what they find is that for entrepreneurs,
00:06:55 - And if you think about it, it's, it's not that difficult to understand there. They know their region very well, they have their connection. It's much easier to establish firm. But on the other hand, we also see that there's a huge pool of the urban areas over the peripheral. So people both for employment but also for entrepreneurship, because there are a lot more resources that are available for these students. Yeah. So there is, so there's, there's two things. One, it relates to the fact that we,
00:07:27 - to, study the, the role of students when we talked about regional innovation system, but in general in, in eco, the economic development of certain regions around the world. and the second part is to consider the, the, you know, differences, the location, ability to absorb, the, the spillovers of, of that knowledge,
00:08:05 - or if they're staying in the university region. Then how, what should we do to make sure that we actually benefit from the fact that we got all these brilliant minds into our regions?

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The contribution of students to regional economies

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