The University, Knowledge Spillovers and Local Development: The Experience of a New University

Universities make an economic contribution to their host territory in two ways. Firstly, there is the direct impact of the initial investment and the effects of students and staff spending and universities’ operating expenditure on the surrounding economy. Secondly, universities are also public institutions that carry out missions of higher education, training and knowledge dissemination that contribute to the local accumulation of human capital, as well as missions of research and knowledge creation that promote technological progress in the host territory. However, this contribution has often been neglected in impact studies. The aim of this article will therefore be to investigate the impact that the creation of new universities has in terms of knowledge spillovers on the economic development of their host territory.