Achieving the Quadruple Helix: How Government, Industry, Higher Education and Civil Society Can Collaborate
One sector alone can’t be expected to meet the innovation and knowledge-sharing demands of our globalized world. The most successful leaders — and in turn, the most successful regions — understand this and have set priorities accordingly.
They embody what has come to be understood as the quadruple helix, or the foundational linkage of government, industry, higher education and civil society as the building blocks of success.
Higher education is increasingly embracing this notion with a recognition that today’s academic environment requires that we do so — both locally and globally. Our ability to create knowledge and equip graduates who can drive innovation and compete depends on our collaboration with off-campus partners from various sectors.
How CaliBaja is Promoting Collaboration
The CaliBaja region straddles the U.S.-Mexico border between California and Baja California and is uniquely situated to lead this charge. It is also home to the three campuses of my institution, CETYS University.
In a globalized society, and particularly in a binational region like ours, when we talk about the quadruple helix, we cannot just consider one country. What benefits one side of the border also impacts the other. International collaboration is essential in building professional bridges that can scale into the future.
The manufacturing sector in our region exemplifies this. Manufacturing facilities that once housed assembly lines have transformed by creating complex manufacturing processes that lean on highly skilled engineering talent from both Mexico and the U.S. — talent developed and nurtured in partnership with the region’s higher educational institutions.
Bringing Off-Campus Partners to Campus — and Vice Versa
Higher education institutions like ours have established learning communities with international partners. Students, faculty and researchers on both sides of the border contribute their resources, knowledge and skills to serving the public and private sectors, helping to create solutions that contribute to continual innovation and growth.
Through our Center for Innovation and Design (CEID), CETYS University works to develop programs and projects with key industries in the region, bringing organizations closer to academia — and vice versa. Companies and engineers work with faculty and students during their projects’ experimental stages. They face and solve real Manufacturing 4.0 problems without putting intellectual property at risk.
Currently, Mexico is among the top ten exporters of medical devices globally, and it’s the largest exporter of medical devices to the U.S. and Latin America. More than half of the industry’s presence in Mexico is in CaliBaja, while San Diego is the 4th largest Life Sciences Technology Hub in the U.S. This Biotech Cluster includes more than 800 companies on both sides of the border. In 2015, CETYS University and St. Cloud State University (SCSU) in Minnesota recognized an opportunity for growth and developed a Graduate Program with Medtronics that provided a specialization in the growing medical device industry in the region.
Being in constant contact with off-campus organizations allows institutions like ours to identify and apply key capabilities for future success, beyond the skills necessary for the current environment.
Of course, CETYS University isn’t the only HEI actively building cross-sector partnerships. Institutions such as ASU and Harvey Mudd College in the United States, and the Warwick Manufacturing Group of the University of Warwick, to name a few, have strong connections with industry as a strategic core element of their educational model that has a direct impact on student learning and job placement.
Today, CaliBaja is home to 10 industry clusters and its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) exceeds $250 billion USD. From 2010 to 2016 alone, its GDP grew by more than 25 percent. With the Quadruple Helix in full force, I expect this transnational growth to only continue.
Jorge Sosa is Dean of the College of Engineering at CETYS University.
