Questions surrounding the local and regional impact of higher education institutions (HEIs) have been around for a long time. In the United Kingdom there was pioneering work on the economic impact of Cambridge on its region (Segal Quince and Partners, 1985) and other studies in the 1980s, but the issues have become more focused in recent years around two poles of interest: the contribution that universities can make to the knowledge economy and the critical role that regions play in determining national economic success. This has prompted a major OECD/IMHE study, the findings of which have been published in a report entitled Higher Education and Regions: Globally Competitive, Locally Engaged (OECD, 2007). The report was followed by a conference, under the same title, held in Valencia, Spain, from 19 to 21 September 2007, which brought together many of the participants in the original research programme. This special issue of the Journal derives from that conference and seeks to present a balanced collection of thematic and case study contributions....