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This paper examines interactions between the presence of top-ranked universities and other conditions that encourage regional competitiveness. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was conducted to assess the combined effect of the conditions. The analysis yields several noteworthy conclusions. First, no single condition is necessary for a region to be competitive. Second, R&D expenditure is important for regional competitiveness. Third, different configurations of conditions are sufficient for high competitiveness in different regional clusters. Furthermore, some of these configurations do not include the presence of top-ranked universities. A 'magic recipe' consists of the combination of a private research system, an inter-firm collaboration network and high levels of human capital. The analysis shows that university excellence is valuable. However, in terms of its contribution to regional development, it is not crucial and must always be contextualised. This conclusion is important for smart strategic planning of local knowledge systems.

The objective of this research is to investigate the combinations of internal and external factors that lead cluster companies to innovate. The study follows a complex causality approach using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) with a sample of 166 companies that belong to the Spanish ceramic tile cluster, differentiating between end product firms and specialized industrial firms. The results show how the two groups benefit from different factors when it comes to technological innovations. End product-focused firms benefit from vertical relationships with suppliers and the interaction with supporting organizations like universities, among others. Specialized industrial firms benefit, above all, from a high R&D investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses the data indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus databases up to and including the year 2020 to map leading regions and trending topics in academic innovation policy research. The country analysis highlights four leading regions in this research field: Western Europe (led by the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, and Spain), North America (led by the USA), Scandinavia (led by Sweden and Denmark), and Asia-Pacific (led by China and Australia). The most common keywords are used to develop a conceptual framework. Applying the Tree of Science approach, we classify the most influential studies into three categories: foundational studies (the roots), structural studies (the trunk), and recent studies (the leaves). This approach shows that trending topics are built around five main pillars: innovation systems, policy tools, knowledge management, sustainability, and entrepreneurship. Finally, based on analysis of the most common keywords and the most influential studies, we propose a Sextuple Helix model. This model consists of the Quintuple Helix (government, university, industry, knowledge society, and sustainability) with the added dimension of entrepreneurship. This model offers an analytical framework with massive potential for academic research on innovation policy in the current economic context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]