Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Einar Rasmussen
Author-Name-First: Einar
Author-Name-Last: Rasmussen
Author-Name: Paul Benneworth
Author-Name-First: Paul
Author-Name-Last: Benneworth
Author-Name: Magnus Gulbrandsen
Author-Name-First: Magnus
Author-Name-Last: Gulbrandsen
Title: How academic entrepreneurship meets the university
Abstract: Some universities and departments have been very successful in stimulating university
spin-off firms (USOs). It remains an open question whether this is due to unique abilities
and circumstances or if it can be stimulated at many universities. This paper seeks to
discuss this question by integrating insights from two separate literatures: academic
entrepreneurship and university management. We start by taking the firm’s perspective
to understand the challenges faced by USOs and how universities can assist these firms in
developing their entrepreneurial competencies. After that we explore why universities
might choose to use their scarce resources to support USOs when the main benefits for
success are accrued by the spin-off rather than the university. Here we use a stakeholder
perspective to suggest how academic entrepreneurship may be seen as universities’
developing service bundles to support an entrepreneurial ecosystem that goes beyond
technical and financial support. We suggest a future research and policy agenda arguing
for more emphasis on understanding the USO as a university stakeholder, with
relationships to a wider stakeholder set, that in turn constitute an entrepreneurial
ecosystem. 
Length: 24 pages
Creation-Date: 2015
File-URL: https://ris.utwente.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/14234005
File-Format: Application/pdf
Number: 201511
Keywords: Academic entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial competencies, innovation policy, university spin-offs, university stakeholders
Handle: RePEc:chs:wpachs:201511