The World Scientific Reference on Entrepreneurship

The following sections are included:

• Contents
• About the Editor-in-Chief
• About the Editors
• About the Contributors

Academic entrepreneurship is a hot topic that is drawing increasing attention from policymakers, university administrators, and the scientists who engage in it. By adopting a process view of academic entrepreneurship, in this book, we aim to contribute to the conversation on how to effectively commercialize university research. We collect evidence from twelve countries and three continents. We use both qualitative and quantitative research methods to illuminate how and to what extent entrepreneurship unfolds from universities worldwide.

We propose the concept of pro-social research to describe the adoption of behavior by scientists who consider societal relevance to be a critical objective of research. We argue that pro-social research is a behavioral antecedent to scientists’ engagement in knowledge transfer activities, including firm creation. Our study investigates the impact of various cognitive aspects on the development of prosocial research behavior. In particular, we investigate whether cognitive diversity and research excellence positively shape pro-social research behavior, and more critically, whether they act as substitutes for prior experience in knowledge transfer activity. Our data are from a large scale survey of scientists in the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and administrative and bibliometric sources.

How does the internationalization of science influence entrepreneurial career aspirations of scientists? Applying the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this chapter investigates the role of S&T human capital, approximated by the international scope of scientists’ research network, as determinant of academic entrepreneurial intentions. The analysis is based on comprehensive survey data from a sample of 247 German scientists. Information on international research activity is collected from the ISI Web of Science (WoS) database. The results show that entrepreneurial intentions are predicted by attitude and perceived behavioral control, but not by social norms. Furthermore, S&T human capital moderates the control-intentions link. The importance of control beliefs as driver of intentions diminishes with an increasing scope of international research activity. This chapter, in sum, provides a first step to better understand the mechanisms through which professional skills and networks — which are key for the practice of science and the growth of scientific careers — may also impact academic entrepreneurship.

In recent decades, policy makers and researchers have taken an increased interest in university spin-offs. Entrepreneurship research provides limited knowledge of the role of the social network actors of external entrepreneurs in the formation process of university spin-offs. External entrepreneurs, who come from outside the university, are likely to use other network actors than academic researchers. This may influence the subsequent development of the firm. The purpose is to develop a conceptual framework for the role of social network actors in the formation of university spin-offs managed by external and inventor entrepreneurs. Literature of social networking, university spin-off formation and external and inventor entrepreneurs guide this study. This study employs a case study design that contains three external and three inventor entrepreneurs of Swedish university spin-offs. The results demonstrate that business actors, support actors and technology actors influence the firm formation process. The study also shows that external entrepreneurs have strong ties (direct access) to business actors while inventor entrepreneurs have weak ties (indirect access) to business actors via the university incubator. University incubators are less important for external entrepreneurs than inventor entrepreneurs because of their strong ties to business actors. The chapter provides implications for researchers and policy makers.

There is great heterogeneity across American Research Universities in terms of the technology transfer process and office characteristics that influence academic technology commercialization outcomes. This study investigates how the organizational reporting structure of the university technology licensing office (TLO) and the educational background and experience of the TLO director affect the technology transfer process. We find that TLOs reporting directly to the university leader or to an economic/ business development office are relatively more effective in working with university startups than TLOs reporting to an office of research, whereas TLOs reporting to multiple functions are relatively more effective in licensing than TLOs reporting directly to the office of research or to an economic/business development office. We also find TLO directors with an MBA degree to be more effective in obtaining invention disclosures and working with startups than TLO directors with a PhD, and TLO directors with an MBA or a PhD degree are more effective at licensing activities than TLO directors with a legal degree. Our analysis finds TLO directors with Juris Doctor (Doctor of Law degree) to be less effective in licensing outcomes than all other educational backgrounds, suggesting that legal wrangling may reduce university licensing counts.

The entrepreneurial process is stimulated and sustained by individual motivations, which incrementally (or in larger steps) lead entrepreneurs towards achieving a desired combination of explicit and implicit goals, satisfaction and the feeling of success. Based on a questionnaire survey of 80 academic entrepreneurs, this chapter examines the interrelations between entrepreneurial motivations and (objective and subjective) success in a post-socialist context. Findings show that supplementing university salaries is the strongest motivation for faculty members to become a part-time entrepreneur, followed by (in decreasing order) research-related benefits, the need for independence, and the need for achievement. In addition to monetary rewards, the application of knowledge to practical purposes (including professional development, problem solving, and recognition) is a prevalent component of subjective success. In view of their financial and human resources, and motivations for growth and innovation, the majority of the spin-off firms in Hungary is not Schumpeterian in nature. A neuralgic aspect of academic entrepreneurship in the country is the contribution of the university, which shows no relation to success indicators and is generally regarded as negative or neutral by faculty members.

This chapter provides an overview of the creation and performance of university spin-out firms in the full population of UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). We provide an overview of the literature relating to academic spin-outs in the UK and identify areas regarding the spin-out landscape that have not been addressed. We consider trends in the demographics of UK university spin-outs. Areas for policy development and for further research are discussed. Given the changing landscape regarding government views about the role of universities and the entrepreneurial objectives of many faculty and, especially, students, we suggest there is a need for an evolution of what is regarded as university start-up activity, with consequences for support activities and for the kind of data collected by researchers.

According to the report “OECD Biotechnology Statistics 2009” published by Van Beuzekom & Arundel (2009). Canada is one of the world’s biotechnology leaders especially in terms of the number of dedicated biotechnology companies, R&D expenditures, government support, and return per dollar invested. To shed more light on this issue, this chapter aims at drawing up an updated portrait where we present the main characteristics and key trends characterizing Canada biotech. The focus is on the category of university spin-offs (USOs) specialized in human health which represents a key link in the value creation chain of Canadian biotechnology (Niosi, 2006; Statistics Canada, 2007).

Science-based entrepreneurial firms (SBEFs) that are set up to commercialize knowledge created in universities and other public research institutions typically face long development paths. They develop new products and services associated with high levels of technological, market, and organizational uncertainties. Despite strong interest from policy makers and universities to promote the creation of SBEFs, there is little systematic evidence on the value creation patterns and potential impacts of these firms. By using a real options approach, this study provides a detailed assessment of the portfolio of all 471 SBEFs supported by technology transfer offices, incubators and science parks in Norway from 1995 to 2012. By following an entire portfolio of firms over an extensive period of time, we overcome some of the shortcomings of prior spin-off research. The findings reveal that 97 firms in the portfolio had reached what could be considered a successful outcome, 126 had failed, while the remaining 251 may still be considered as real options with an uncertain outcome. Acquisitions appear to be an important mode of successful outcomes for these ventures; an outcome currently underexplored in the literature. The chapter concludes with implications for policy makers seeking to maximize the value creation potential of spin-offs from academic institutions.

Despite growing interest in academic spin-offs (ASOs), research has overlooked the determinants, strategies, and outcomes of their internationalization choices. In this chapter, we review existing literature on the topic of internationalization of ASOs, connecting it to international business and international entrepreneurship literature, identifying relevant theoretical and empirical knowledge gaps. We then carry out a descriptive investigation about the characteristics and internationalization patterns of ASOs in the Italian context, drawing on a survey on 120 companies. Based on the review and our results, we highlight research areas deserving future investigation.

Academic and political interest in Academic Spin-offs (ASOs) has increased significantly in the last few years. In 2007 the Portuguese government established, jointly with the University of Texas at Austin, the University Technology Enterprise Network (UTEN), a network of professional Technology Transfer Offices focused on the commercialization and internationalization of Portuguese Science and Technology. The present chapter assesses the role of S&T infrastructures and support on the economic performance of a sample of Portuguese ASOs associated to the UTEN. Econometric estimations revealed that certain types of S&T infrastructures (incubators) and support mechanisms (access to skilled labor; business mentoring and counselling) were critical for the economic performance of ASOs. In contrast, other contextual factors, namely the characteristics and endowments of host universities and the level of development of regions where the companies located failed to influence their economic performance. Such results highlight the need for continuing and sustainable public investment/efforts aimed at strengthen technology transfer and commercialization process in Portugal.

Innovation ecosystems have emerged worldwide to foster social and economic development. In Brazil these ecosystems originate from the current national innovation policy and are relevant assets to accomplish entrepreneurial efforts. The improvement of management competences within those ecosystems is the main driver of our research. Precisely, we attempt to answer the question “How can Brazilian Innovation ecosystems organize innovation and entrepreneurial processes in order to foster the resulting outcome?” This chapter introduces a process-based approach implemented as an ICT platform in Curitiba, a Brazilian metropolitan area with 3,800 million inhabitants. The platform emerged from several requirements issued from innovation clusters and networked organizations studies. The experience has proven to be a helpful tool to generate better outputs from the complex innovation dynamics that reside in innovation ecosystems.

Universities have become more ‘strategic’ in their pursuit of creating entrepreneurial capital as part of their commitment to make a wider contribution to society. In this part of the book, we will explore the strategic approach of Belgium-based universities and its evolution from closed powerhouses to boundary-spanning organizations. By adopting the case study methodology, we highlight the following strategic options available to Belgium-based universities looking to further develop its universitycentered ecosystems: (1) appropriate infrastructure and innovative approaches to ensure diversity; (2) differentiated approach to develop financial support networks; (3) enterprise education; and (4) grassroot entrepreneurial movements. However, in order to fully benefit from the value created within the university ecosystem, each institution will have to find a way to attract all ecosystem practitioners which also captures the value. This study enhances the wider understanding of regional ecosystems and the role of universities.

The following sections is included:

• Index