Exploring relations between Triple, Quadruple and quintuple helix models

The Triple Helix model has been making waves since Loet Leydesdorff and Henry Etzkowitz gave birth to it in 1995. Its capacity for stimulating academic debate and analysis as well as informing government policy worldwide shows no sign of abating.

Inevitably, the model has developed over the years and several authors have suggested expanding the number of helices involved beyond the original three (Industry, Universities, Government). This special issue of Triple Helix 9 (2022) is a response to the Leydesdorff and Lawton Smith (2022) paper published in Triple Helix Triple, Quadruple, and Higher Order Helices: Historical Phenomena and (Neo-) evolutionary Models. The authors take on the task of advancing state-of-the art research on relations between Triple, Quadruple and Quintuple Helix models. The five papers, (four response articles and one full research paper) contribute to debates on relations between the different models from different starting points. In so doing they provide fresh insights into the underpinnings of each approach and thence their applications to empirical analyses and policy formulation.

What is “special” about this issue is the engagement of younger scholars from innovation studies. For example, Han Woo Park invited Pieter Stek, an early-stage scholar in scientometrics to join him. Lan Xue invited Yuchen Goa. Thus new generations of scholars are now taking forward critical approaches to triple and multiple helix thinking and practice – and developing their own new perspectives.

References

Etzkowitz, H and Leydesdorff, L (1995) The Triple Helix — University-Industry-Government Relations: A Laboratory for Knowledge Based Economic Development EASST Review, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 14-19 available at The Triple Helix — University-Industry-Government Relations: A Laboratory for Knowledge Based Economic Development by Henry Etzkowitz, Loet Leydesdorff :: SSRN

Leydesdorff, L and Lawton Smith, H (2022) Leydesdorff, L. and Lawton Smith, H. (2022). Triple, quadruple, and higher-order helices: historical phenomena and (neo-)evolutionary models. Triple Helix , pp. 1-31. ISSN 2197-1927.

Triple Helix Volume 9 (2022): Issue 1 (Apr 2022): Special Issue: Triple, Quadruple and Quintuple Helix Models of Innovation https://brill.com/view/journals/thj/9/1/thj.9.issue-1.xml

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This post has been contributed by Helen Lawton Smith and Loet Leydesdorff