University and Its Societal Environment: Reflections on the Triple Helix Model and Ways Forward

Universities are central institutions in the current knowledge society. Their role is to provide new scientific and technological knowledge, to educate people to serve the society and to alleviate societal problems of various kinds.  To these ends universities have been streamlined to perform more efficiently. Simultaneously, the separate institutional spheres of science, university, government, industry and the civil society have intermingled giving rise to many theoretical interpretations that underline the professed radical change of universities and sciences. Of these theories, the current article focuses on the triple-helix of university-industry-government relations. The model claims that intensified interaction between university, industry and government has given rise to a new kind of research, which not only seeks to advance knowledge but also tries to attain commercially viable products. As a normative policy model, triple helix might be transporting into analysis certain understanding of the developmental role of scientific research. The present paper summarizes the major viewpoints of this theory and reflects on the commentary given to it. To better understand the vices and virtues of the model, it also analyses the model’s distinct theoretical status and claims that it is ambiguous, as it combines three types of sociological theory, i.e., diagnosis of an era, general sociological theory and research theory. After assessing the status of triple helix, the paper contributes to the discussion about the model by probing different theoretical avenues that research associated with the concept might proceed. Of central importance here is systems theory by Niklas Luhmann, as major protagonists of triple helix have frequently used his ideas in discussing the model. The current paper draws concepts from Luhmann’s theory to specify ways in which empirical research associated with triple helix could be made more responsive to the multi-functional and internally contradictory character of the contemporary research university.