The World Scientific Reference on Entrepreneurship

The following sections are included:

• Contents
• Preface
• Foreword
• About the Editor-in-Chief
• About the Editors
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgments

Entrepreneurial universities are important and significant contributors to economies and societies. They are at the nexus of knowledge development and transfer. They have become critical actors for regions and countries in the realization of further economic and social development. The chapter begins with a state-of-theart review of the entrepreneurial university literature. This provides some insights into the evolution of entrepreneurial university research specific to themes and empirical studies. The chapter then turns to provide a summary introduction to the nine contributor chapters that have focused on different aspects of the entrepreneurial agenda. The chapter concludes by outlining some themes and issues that warrant future research.

With increasing pressure on universities to play an enhanced role in the process of innovation and economic development, this research investigates the concept of the entrepreneurial university [Etzkowitz H. & Leydesdorff L. 2000. The dynamics of innovation: from National Systems and “Mode 2” to a Triple Helix of university–industry–government relations. Research Policy, 29(2), 109–123] within a full service university setting. The chapter reviews the opportunities and challenges associated with the paradigm and presents a case study of a full service university at the early stages of its journey toward the entrepreneurial university paradigm. The case highlights an emerging divide across the university’s academic disciplines regarding the third academic mission and explores its implications for the institution and its entrepreneurial trajectory. Ultimately, the case findings call into question Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff’s assertion that the entrepreneurial university is a global phenomenon with an isomorphic development path.

Building on the extant literature on the engagement between higher education institutions and enterprises, this chapter begins with a brief overview of the changing role of higher education. The chapter specifically relates to the evolving role of Irish third-level institutions and details a collaborative project which explores existing practice in higher education engagement with external stakeholders. A synopsis of two aspects of this project is provided: first, the interactions between higher education and enterprise for the purposes of work placements for students, and second, the development of innovative learning solutions for employee development within the workplace. Finally, the importance of partnership interactions between higher education and enterprise to support the spanning of the boundaries and the evolution of a greater mutual understanding contributing to an entrepreneurial culture within the higher education institution and in the graduates themselves will be considered.

Less attention has been given to the organizational development changes that are required to support a culture of entrepreneurship within entrepreneurial universities. This chapter seeks to shed some clarity on this issue by exploring the nature and structure of the entrepreneurial university and the evolution of the entrepreneurial university concept. It will also seek to elaborate upon the concepts of strategy-making and formation in an entrepreneurial university context and assess the organizational and cultural contexts that support knowledge transfer and value creation activities in these evolving organizational forms. Finally it will conclude with a consideration of leadership and governance in context and point to the challenges inherent in balancing traditional modes of management behavior with the transformational modes of leadership that will be required to support entrepreneurial university activity.

This chapter addresses development of entrepreneurial universities in developing, post-communist countries. This chapter uses ex-Yugoslavian countries with a focus on Bosnia and Herzegovina to analyze institutional changes at universities and research institutes in the last 50 years in their research policies and practices. This chapter uses an institutional perspective to analyze the factors associated with the environmental factors (formal and informal), following the idea of Burton Clark [Clark, B. 1983. The Higher Education System: Academic Organization in Cross-National Perspective. University of California Press, Berkeley; Clark, B. 1995. Places of Inquiry: Research and Advanced Education in Modern University. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles; Clark, B. (ed.). 1998. Creating Entrepreneurial Universities: Organizational Pathways of Transformation. Pergamon, Oxford]. The study provides insight into the constitutional framework that defines education system, policy developments that influence development of entrepreneurial universities, university-institutional structure that either supports or jeopardizes the emergence of entrepreneurial universities, and individual motivations of academics to start cooperation with industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH). The chapter points out to the individual cooperation of academics and industry as a dominant way of cooperation in BIH.

Scientists in the role of principal investigators (PIs) are one of the most important resources for any entrepreneurial university. This chapter presents an exploratory framework of PI categorization around two key dimensions of visioning and opportunity recognition. We unearth four types of PIs: science focused, collaborative, industry focused, and explorative entrepreneurs. In particular, the role of PIs as explorative entrepreneur and their ability to combine knowledge theory and business practice, to strengthen the cooperation between two different environments, research and business, and to support research spin-off creation in entrepreneurial universities is explored. To match PIs’ scientific and entrepreneurial orientations with entrepreneurial universities’ goals of innovation and entrepreneurship is not an easy task. To make the PIs’ orientation matching entrepreneurial universities’ goals toward market of innovation and entrepreneurship is not an easy task. A research-oriented approach is still predominant in PIs compared to an explorative entrepreneurial mindset oriented to spin-off creation.

This chapter explores the development of firm-specific innovative capabilities in university/industry collaborations. It builds an integrative innovative capability framework and empirically tests it in a university/industry collaborative context. It theoretically contributes by bridging the previously unexplored nexus between university/ industry collaboration (within the triple-helix of innovation) and innovative capabilities. It also advances industry-specific insights regarding why firms should collaborate with universities, specifically emphasizing a set of innovative capabilities that universities are likely to promote in their industrial collaborative relationships. This holds particular relevance to help define the value of where and how the entrepreneurial university should be applied. The chapter establishes that three of the innovative capability constructs specifically allowed the university to significantly influence the collaborating firms’ innovative capabilities: (1) external environment and networking intensity; (2) path dependency, prior related knowledge, and learning; and (3) idea management and opportunity recognition.

University–business cooperation is important to strengthen the innovative capacity of the economy. Until recently, universities where rather hesitant to engage with local business but with recent changes in the higher education landscape, universities have started to become more “entrepreneurial.” Therefore, little is yet known about critical success factors for the establishment of these new ties and cultures of cooperation. For the purpose of this study, one German university who strives to become more entrepreneurial by working more closely with local business was chosen as a case study. We analyzed the main factors for a sustainable cooperation in an established network for innovation and transfer as a concrete example of university–business cooperation. Using a mixed-methodology approach a quantitative survey of the participating partners as well as qualitative case studies was conducted to measure the success of this cooperation through knowledge transfer and to gain insights in the success factors. We identified three relevant factors: knowledge management, cultural integration, and relationship management. Personal attributes of network members emerged as another important factor as a kind of precondition to engage in university–business cooperation.

In the modern knowledge economy, higher educational (HE) institutions need to foster entrepreneurship that requires integration of theory to real-life learning. Authentic learning combined with entrepreneurial internship in a foreign country focuses on serving the learning gaps related to entrepreneurship and internationalization. Using data from Lapland University of Applied Sciences (UAS) experiences of the Journeyman Travel Model, the findings suggest that authentic entrepreneurial setting supports students’ competence-development, but a variety of factors need to be incorporated in the program already in design phase. Reflection and collaboration supported by tutoring and mentoring practices form a crucial part of the successful implementation. Interactive technologies facilitate knowledge transfer, decrease distances, and make participation easier (Bernoff & Li, 2008), but lacking technological skills hinders the full utilization of the Information Communication Technology (ICT). For entrepreneurial universities that want to boost competitiveness and foster entrepreneurship, adopting an authentic entrepreneurial learning space is necessary. Furthermore, entrepreneurial universities’ practices, processes, and supports should be tailored to meet real-life principles, incorporation of technology, and use of flexible entrepreneurial methods, such as coaching and mentoring.

For entrepreneurial universities, creating new learning pedagogical approaches that support the learning and knowledge transfer among student cohorts is essential. Creating new learning environments and experiences that reflect a worklife orientation is one of the challenges facing entrepreneurial universities. Creating such learning environments for learning and knowledge transfer with international partners is challenging and complex. Using the case study of the Creative Steps, a worklife-oriented, creative, and innovative learning process aimed at students seeking professional careers in the creative and cultural industries highlights the learning and knowledge transfer challenges. This chapter’s findings focus on learning with respect to creative methods, teamwork, skills, client feedback, and the model of Creative Steps. Well-designed programs in entrepreneurial universities can improve working life skills, widen the collaboration and networking opportunities, and embrace online tools that encourage knowledge transfer, learning, and collaboration that benefit participants, entrepreneurial universities, and the regions they inhabit. Such programs are a must if entrepreneurial universities intend on sustaining their relevance and the economic impact of their teaching mission.

The following sections is included:

• Index