# Could the 'Spinner Innovation' and 'Triple Helix' Models Improve System Innovation?
## 2 Theoretical Background
### Triple Helix and Spinner Models  
#### 2.2.1 Triple Helix Model  
A useful framework for assessing the interactions ongoing among these three players stems from the triple helix model of innovation. Researchers have previously deployed this model to understand how innovation processes lead to entrepreneurial outcomes [30; 31; 32]. The model is based on three spheres, respectively representing government, industry and academia. The government sphere emphasizes the supportive role played by policy makers in promoting and facilitating innovation and entrepreneurship [30]. For example, they set the rules and regulations that may or may not encourage the launch and expansion of new enterprises as well as the development or adoption of new innovations. Furthermore, policy makers can influence both the development and dissemination of innovation by providing financial incentives [33]. The industry sphere reflets how firms and corporations act as catalysts and drivers in activating and mobilizing innovation [31]. In brief, commercial organizations come up with the capital required and the corporate endorsement that supports and justifies the launching of new research projects [34]. Moreover, business firms nurture the launching of start-ups through any combination of financial, professional or commercial support. The academia sphere depicts the developmental role that academic institutions undertake in cultivating innovation [35]. They act as a platform for the discussion and promotion of the objectives and needs of government and industry [22]. This allows for interested actors and stakeholders to discuss and debate potential solutions to socioeconomic problems in an environment with ready access to comprehensive knowledge [36]. Therefore, by highlighting the problems, communicating the available support, and providing the tools necessary to identify the solutions, academia acts as a launch pad for innovation and entrepreneurship [37]. In turn, the researchers of [38] distinguish three types of Triple Helix Model, specifically, the \"Statist Model\", the \"Laissez-faire Model\" and the \"Balanced Model\" In the \"Statist Model\", the government constitutes the controlling agent, leading and dominating relationships with academia and industry in the development of projects, applying resources and advancing with initiatives. In the \"Laissez-faire Model\", the agents, industry, academia and government demonstrate management autonomy and act broadly independently of each other, thus only interacting across institutional boundaries. In the \"Balanced Model\", the approach encapsulates flexibility in which each agent assumes the role of the other, configuring a relationship between institutional spheres and separate organizations within an overlapping system. According to [39], the Triple Helix framework incorporates multiple social science theories, including [PERSON]'s triad, [PERSON]'s organizational entrepreneur, social networks and institutional logics, in order to increase its explanatory powers. In addition, according to the literature, there is now a clear justification for recourse to the Triple Helix Model to describe the relationships between academia, industry, and government. Within this vein, regional development theories maintain that stronger connections between universities, business and local government (state or municipal), as well as particular local activities (such as local technology transfers, the growth of human capital, and networking), together lead to better overall outcomes [40]. In the context of knowledge-based societies, Triple Helix related theories return some evidence that universities may play a more significant role in innovation (e.g., [40; 41]). Furthermore, the applications of the triple helix model span different contexts and sectors, including the development of fields of innovation [42], the revitalisation of cities in Brazil [43], as well as the travel and tourism sector (e.g., [44]). The literature has noted its potential relevance for the development of the tourism sector [45].