From Register Data to Regional Impact: A Roadmap for Measuring the 4th Generation University's Contribution to Economy, Society, and Growth

Universities are increasingly expected to demonstrate their contribution to economic growth, regional ecosystems, and societal well-bein; not only through academic output, but through firm formation, graduate talent, and knowledge spillovers. The 4th Generation University (4GU) framework formalizes this expectation across research, education, governance, and value co-creation, but making the case convincingly requires firm-level evidence beyond institutional self-reporting. This talk presents a roadmap for closing that evidence gap, using a linkage of bibliometric and national statistics data for Denmark. We show what current data can already demonstrate: the academic sector's direct economic footprint, the formation and survival of research-intensive firms, and their clustering around university regions. We also show what is still missing: linking ownership and governance roles, capturing founder-based spin-offs, and connecting patents and policy citations to firm outcomes, and propose next steps to close these gaps at scale.