Universities and Knowledge Triangle Mode: The EIT Health experience

The awareness of Knowledge Triangle as one of the drivers of innovation has been increasing in the past decades. Cooperation between higher education, business and research is at the core of the Knowledge Triangle universities are key players in Europe’s research and innovation landscape. This paper aims to analyzes the Knowledge Triangle and the ways in which its principles are applied in university practice. This work analyzes the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) - specifically on its “Knowledge and Innovation Community” (KIC) focused on the health sector named “EIT Health” – to improve our understanding of the different ways to implement a model in practice. The concept of the Knowledge Triangle is not just a theoretical idea has attracted already considerable interest, however, there is scant evidence on the different forms Knowledge Triangle may actually display. The present study starts to remedy this gap and contributes the management field by providing evidence about the EIT Health experience. The research methodology applied in this study is case study approach. The phenomenon under investigation is the relationship between Knowledge Triangle and forms of collaboration. The preliminary empirical results show that policies and strategies focusing upon practice application of the Knowledge Triangle play a key role, also highlights the opportunities that integration of the they dimensions is essential to delivering the added value in terms of fostering innovation.