In the Region—for the Region? Different Perspectives on Universities’ Engagement in Selected Industrial Regions

Abstract The role of universities in regional development has gained increasing importance in research, particularly regarding their economic and societal contributions. However, there is no consistent understanding on how context factors influence engagement and how these factors are perceived by university stakeholders and their respective collaboration network. Utilizing the theoretical foundations derived from the literature, the study employs a case study analysis of two Austrian universities located in industrial regions, Linz (JKU) and Graz (KFU) with vibrant regional innovation systems. Our research is based on a combined flexible pattern matching analysis (FPMA) and the Gioia methodology. The Gioia method identifies patterns directly from the empirical data which is relevant for understanding stakeholders’ perceptions and FPMA involves the iterative matching between theoretical patterns derived from literature and empirically observed patterns. Influenced by various context factors—spatial-relational, organizational, and institutional—the findings reveal, that academic engagement is perceived in two different spheres, the organizational sphere of the university and the regional sphere which allows a differentiated reflection on the existing engagement theory. While university engagement often focuses on knowledge transfer and scientific impact, regional engagement involves broader collaborations with regional stakeholders and is frequently policy driven. Besides organizational influencing factors, such as the founding history, leadership and motivated university actors, the findings reveal that the type of engagement is strongly driven by regional networks as well as proximity. Institutional and social proximity coin the university’s definition and understanding of academic engagement as well as its implementation in the form of university and/or regional engagement.