The Triple Helix Association celebrates its XXI annual conference on the La Salle-URL campus. This year's edition, which will take place between June 26 and 29, focuses on the role of entrepreneurial universities and their commitment to sustainable development. The event will serve to link education, research and innovation with the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations (UN).
The conference will have the participation of leading academics, policy makers and professionals from around the world, who will meet at La Salle Campus Barcelona to reflect together on the challenges and solutions that are linked to the SDGs and, also, on the relationship between entrepreneurial universities, governments, industry and civil society. The Triple Helix Association wants to value the importance of addressing global social, economic and environmental challenges from an inclusive, competitive and sustainable perspective.
It is in this context where innovation is claimed as one of the most important tools to respond to challenges thanks to agile ecosystems capable of providing comprehensive solutions for sustainable development and triple, quadruple and quintuple helix actions. The conference program will include master classes, work sessions, parallel events, special sessions linked to the different SDGs, networking activities and a tour to learn about the innovation ecosystem of the city of Barcelona, of which it is a key player La Salle-URL.
Top level guests and speakers
The conference will receive personalities from all over the world and will have the active participation of great academic references:
- Henry Etzkowitz: Innovation expert and creator of key concepts and theories such as the entrepreneurial university and the triple helix. He is, in fact, the founder of the Triple Helix Association and, since 2012, the CEO of the International Triple Helix Institute. He is author of numerous highly relevant articles and publications on the subject.
- Lourdes Casanova: Director of the Gail and Rob Cañizares Emerging Markets Institute at Cornell University and named one of the 50 most influential Ibero-American intellectuals. She is a commentator in media such as El País, CNN and Voice of America, among others.
- Jerome Engel: Expert in innovation, entrepreneurship and venture capital and Adjunct Professor Emeritus at the Haas School of Business (University of California, Berkeley). He is an honorary doctorate from the Ramon Llull University at the proposal of the La Salle International Faculty of Commerce and Digital Economy (FICEDLS).
- Soumitra Dutta: Dean of the Saïd Business School at Oxford University and former Dean, and founder, of the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University. He is an expert in technology and innovation policies, and his interests include the link between artificial intelligence and the future of work, and social networks and data analysis.
Josep M. Piqué, president of the Triple Helix Association
The Executive President of La Salle Technova, the innovation park of La Salle Campus Barcelona, Josep M. Piqué, has been the president of the Triple Helix Association for a year and a half, a position to which he was unanimously appointed. Under his presidency, the association is consolidating itself as the main international non-governmental and non-profit organization that works to promote good interaction between academia, industry and government (triple helix).
In addition, the association promotes technological innovation and economic growth, while fighting for the advancement of scientific knowledge and for the promotion of research, innovation, economic competitiveness and development, aspects that are linked to some of the differential attributes of La Salle-URL.
This year's conference, held in Barcelona, will be the second under the presidency of Josep M. Piqué. Last year, the XX conference of the Triple Helix Association took place in Florence and served to reflect on the co-creation of knowledge and collaboration mechanisms between the actors that make up innovation ecosystems with the aim of building new sustainable and development paths and development of the welfare of society.