The Role of Universities in Innovation Development as Trainer and Innovator

Several success stories prove that universities are able to significantly influence regional economic and innovation performance. Partially due to this fact, a number of regions created development strategies to strengthen the regional effects of universities and to motivate the academic sphere for a more intense involvement in regional economic development.The purpose of this study is to examine the associations among different universities‟ roles as trainer and innovator and show that their influence on the society, directly or indirectly, relates to innovation development. We test the proposed framework and hypotheses using empirical data from Fars province (Iran)'s UAST's faculty member. The results show that universities in both roles have a positive relationship with innovation development. Societal capability to manage processes may play a vital role in identifying routines, establishing a learning base, and supporting innovative activities. The findings also reveal that the importance of universities roles are tied to social effects. Therefore, highlighting just one or a few social effects may not result in innovation development.