%0 Journal Article %T Institutionalization of cross-border regional innovation systems: the role of university institutional entrepreneurs %A Jos van den Broek %A Paul Benneworth %A Roel Rutten %J Regional Studies, Regional Science %D 2019 %R https://doi.org/10.1080/21681376.2018.1562367 %X ABSTRACT Cross-border regions are faced with the difficulty that resources for knowledge and innovation may be nearby but difficult to connect to because of the border. Universities could play a supportive role in building innovation environments, facilitating cross-border knowledge exchange. In this research we attempt to understand the systemic roles that universities might play by considering the activities in which they build these cross-border institutional arrangements. We focus upon activities of individual actors, conceptualized as ¡®institutional entrepreneurs¡¯. We ask the research question: How can universities through their institutional entrepreneurship activities contribute to the institutionalization of cross-border innovation environments that facilitate cross-border resource access for innovating actors? We address it by developing a conceptual framework for how these institutional entrepreneurs may operate, and identify three repertoires of contributions. We then explore how university actors in a specific cross-border region have built linkages that have acquired a degree of permanence %U https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21681376.2018.1562367