Think tanks and universities in the knowledge-based economy: crossing, blurring and shifting boundaries

Résumé En

Taking into account the current trend of blurring boundaries between diverse knowledge providers, competing for personnel and funding, think tanks (TTs) need to defend their “label” as research-based organizations emphasizing their “organizational distinctiveness”. Using as an analytical framework the approach elaborated by T. Medvetz in combination with the concept of the organizational identity and the concept of boundaries, the paper looks at the issue of self-identification by TT representatives, analysing how their position towards the academic world is reflected in the building of their organizational identity and strategy. Based on the analysis of materials from TT websites and data obtained from semi-structured interviews with representatives of the stand-alone and university-based TTs in Brussels, France, Slovenia and the United Kingdom, this paper presents how TT staff members build their identity on the perceived similarities and differences between their organizations and universities and shows how a blurring nature of a TT itself and its staff contributes to its continuity as an organization. The paper concludes by discussing the embodiment of the TT identity through its strategy involving formal and informal inter-institutional cooperation with universities.