According to some, universities and academic research are under threat. As we move towards a more knowledge-intensive economy, academics face pressures to link their work more closely to economic needs, with potentially adverse long-term consequences. This has been characterised as a fundamental...

Michael Porter's book The Competitive Advantage of Nations (1990) has led to increasing attention to the favorable impact that 'advanced domestic users' may have on competitiveness. This paper presents a critical appraisal of the theoretical and empirical evidence on this relationship. An...