Impacto de la educación superior cubana en el desarrollo de sistemas de innovación locales

This work describes a comprehensive approach to the association between the university and its territorial environs –with emphasis on the municipality– that aims to enhance the effectiveness of the university management of knowledge and innovation. The goal is to improve the interconnection channels universitymunicipality to allow increasing the impact of the higher education upon the economic and social development at local level. The approach is initiated with the model of innovation systems and its broader concept beyond Research and Development (R&D), highlighting the role of knowledge and learning on the advances of local innovation systems. We conclude that the higher education is capable to achieve an important impact on the local development of a selected group of municipalities