Research universities, particularly in the United States, have become more central to their societies in the latter part of this century, primarily because they represent the central knowledge resources in those societies. As new knowledge and its applications and absorption increase in significance throughout the economy, in organizations, and for the competency of individuals, those institutions whose primary business is knowledge increase in significance.
Because the United States over the last one hundred years has focused the discovery, development, application, and preservation of all forms of knowledge-scientific, humanistic, and social scientific-in a network of privately and publicly funded research universities, these institutions today are being called upon to participate more actively in knowledge-based regional economic development activities. Universities can appropriately contribute to economic development by developing knowledge-linking activities that enhance technology commercialization, support organizational and community change, and enhance the competencies of workers and professionals.
This chapter offers some examples of the diverse ways in which universities might better organize themselves to serve the society' s increasingly complex economic development needs. It proceeds from the assumption that growth and prosperity in a global economy increasingly depend not only on a variety of distinct regional capacities driven by new technological