2. Synergies between the city and universities

Victoria's universities are fundamental to Melbourne's knowledge economy. The Times Higher Education Supplement Top 200 World Universities ¹_ ranked the University of Melbourne 22nd (2nd in Australia), and Monash University 38th.

Melbourne is not only a city with these world class universities in it. Factoring these together with its liveability, education expenditure and the number of its graduates and Melbourne emerges as a university city. Melbourne is ranked on the 2008 Global University Cities Index² as the world's fourth top university city (out of 20 world cities) after London, Boston and Tokyo.

The universities with a presence in the municipality are significant contributors to the culture and economy of the city. They are:

• major export earners
• businesses in a global higher education industry
• diverse
• nurturing the development of human capital for the services sector
• part of the global higher education research sector
• leading service providers for government, industry and the community
• providing and maintaining a cultural infrastructure for the municipality
• drivers of the built environment.

The tertiary education sector is central to the future of Melbourne as a knowledge city. This sector is also integral to the growth and retention of priority business sectors. Melbourne needs to strengthen links between universities, government agencies, business and community groups to foster productive collaborations.

Universities could collaborate with one another and the cities scientific research institutes in researching or implementing priority projects, allowing genuine knowledge clusters to form across metropolitan Melbourne. Successful collaborative projects could be used in as case studies in marketing Melbourne internationally.

Universities could also continue to seek better links with industry. Melbourne's strengths (such as biotechnology) could be a particular focus, creating opportunities for universities to work with industry in ways that produce practical outcomes. While Melbourne is a leader when it comes to research, the commercialisation of our research could certainly be improved. That said, universities must continue to exist as entities free of interests that focused solely on private-industry profits. That proud university tradition of independent and rigorous debate must be upheld.

The recently established Office of Knowledge Capital, a collaboration between the City of Melbourne, eight Melbourne universities and the Committee for Melbourne, aims to advance Melbourne's position and global reputation as a university city . The Office of Knowledge Capital has potential as a new force for innovation and economic transformation – leveraging investment, championing ideas, expanding Melbourne's research capacity and stimulating and supporting business innovation. The office also aims to break new ground in university and community partnerships. It has the capacity to seed and support a legitimate hub for ongoing commercialisation and knowledge transfer activities.

To improve synergies between universities and the city, Melbourne needs to:

• harness Melbourne's research and development capacity
• foster knowledge business clusters
• increase the level of creativity, innovation and enterprise
• foster local and global business partnerships
• promote Melbourne's knowledge capability
• ensure Melbourne is a world leading cities for scientific research
• increase venture capital investment.

Indicators

• Proportion of metropolitan Melbourne and City of Melbourne municipal residents employed in highly skilled occupations (% of people working in area) (Source: ABS Census, Frequency: 5 years)
• Growth in the number of new businesses seeded in the City of Melbourne

References

1 : Times Higher Education Supplement Top 200 World Universities _

2 : 2008 Global University Cities Index

3 : Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) (2008)