In this knowledge synthesis paper on leveraging investments in HERD , Allison Bramwell, Nicola Hepburn and David A. Wolfe, outline several institutional factors and policies that build the Canadian university’s capacity to respond to the continually changing R&D and knowledge requirements of local firms, build the absorptive capacity of local firms to make use of this knowledge, and build the human capital, finance capital and intellectual property that underpins local knowledge flows.