Abstract
An entrepreneurial university is a natural incubator that tries to provide a supportive environment in which the university community can explore, evaluate and exploit ideas that could be transformed into social and economic entrepreneurial initiatives. Entrepreneurial universities are involved in partnerships, networks and other relationships to generate an umbrella for interaction, collaboration and co-operation. Rapid developments in science, the multidisciplinary nature of frontier research, legislative changes such as the Bayh–Dole Act and demands from business and society have shaped knowledge-based entrepreneurship within universities. Despite sharing similar historical backgrounds, economic conditions and cultural and social structures, entrepreneurial universities in most countries remain distinct from one another by their institutional arrangements, traditions and characteristics unique to each organization. Interestingly, no comparative research has been conducted to understand the similarities and differences of the conditioning factors and the outcomes/outputs of entrepreneurial universities in different regions that share similar social, economic and political conditions. This paper addresses this research deficit, adopting institutional economics and resource-based view. We compare entrepreneurial universities in two European regions (Spain and Ireland) using an in-depth qualitative approach based on multiple case studies (two Spanish universities and two Irish universities) between 2006 and 2010. The findings provide organizational practices and approaches relevant to the transformation process of other regional universities seeking to become entrepreneurial.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
According to Eurostat, in 2008 the percentage of population aged 25–34 years enrolled in higher education was 42 % in Ireland and 38 % in Catalonia. Also in that year, the percentage of expenses of research and development was 1.45 (Ireland) and 1.62 (Catalonia); and the gross domestic product (GDP) was 0.00348 (Ireland) and 0.00333 (Catalonia) (OECD).
Index developed by the Grupo SCImago (2007) to measure the academic productivity of Spanish universities from 1999 to 2007 in terms of the number of papers published in international journals and the number of academics involved in each university.
References
ACUP. (2011). Impact of the Catalan Public Universities on society. Barcelona: Nexe Impressions.
Adler, P., & Kwon, S. (2002). Social capital: Prospects for a new concept. Academy of Management Review, 27, 17–40.
Agrawal, A., & Henderson, R. M. (2002). Putting patents in context: Exploring knowledge transfer from MIT. Management Science, 48(1), 44–60.
Aldridge, T., & Audretsch, D. (2011). The Bayh–Dole Act and scientist entrepreneurship. Research Policy, 40(8), 1058–1067.
Amit, R., & Schoemaker, D. C. (1993). Strategic assets and organizational rent. Strategic Management Journal, 14(1), 33–46.
Argote, L., & Ingram, P. (2000). Knowledge transfer: A basis for competitive advantage in firms. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 82(1), 150–169.
Audretsch, D. (2009). The entrepreneurial society. Journal of Technology Transfer, 34, 245–254.
Audretsch, D., & Lehmann, E. (2005). Does the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship hold for regions? Research Policy, 34, 1191–1202.
Benneworth, P., & Charles, D. (2005). University spin-off policies and economic development in less successful regions: Learning from two decades of policy practice. European Planning Studies, 13(4), 537–557.
Bernasconi, A. (2005). University entrepreneurship in a developing country: The case of the P. Universidad Catolica de Chile, 1985–2000. Higher Education, 50(2), 247–274.
Caballero, R., & Hammour, M. (1994). The cleaning effect of recessions. American Economic Review, 84(5), 1350–1368.
Clark, B. R. (1998). Creating entrepreneurial universities. Oxford: Pergamon.
CRUE. (2007). Spanish higher education funding. Spain: Ministry of Education and Science.
Debackere, K., & Veugelers, R. (2005). The role of academic technology transfer organizations in improving industry science links. Research Policy, 34, 321–342.
Di Gregorio, D., & Shane, S. (2003). Why do some universities generate more start-ups than others? Research Policy, 32, 209–227.
Eisenhardt, K. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 532–550.
Gartner, W., & Birley, S. (2002). Introduction to the special issue on qualitative methods in entrepreneurship research. Journal of Business Venturing, 17, 387–395.
GEM. (2010). Global entrepreneurship monitor—Spanish database. Wellesley, MA: London Business School, Babson College.
Ghatak, M., Morelli, M., & Sjöström, T. (2007). Entrepreneurial talent, occupational choice and trickle up policies. Journal of Economic Theory, 137, 27–48.
Giblin, M. & Ryan, P. (2010). Tight clusters or loose networks? The critical role of inward foreign direct investment in cluster creation. Regional Studies. doi:10.1080/00343404.2010.497137.
Godin, B., & Gingras, Y. (2000). The place of universities in the system of knowledge production. Research Policy, 29(2), 273.
Grandi, A., & Grimaldi, R. (2005). Academics’ organizational characteristics and the generation of successful business ideas. Journal of Business Venturing, 20(6), 821–845.
Grimaldi, R., Kenney, M., Siegel, D., & Wright, M. (2011). 30 years after Bayh–Dole: Reassessing academic entrepreneurship. Research Policy, 40(8), 1045–1057.
Grupo SCImago. (2007). ISI productivity of Spanish Universities (2000–2004). The informationist, 16(4), 354–358.
Guerrero, M., Rialp, J., & Urbano, D. (2008). The impact of desirability and feasibility on entrepreneurial intentions: A structural equation model. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 4, 35–50.
Guerrero, M., & Urbano, D. (2012). The development of an entrepreneurial university. Journal of Technology Transfer, 37(1), 43–74.
Harzig, C., Juteau, D., & Schmitt, I. (2006). The social construction of diversity: Recasting the master narrative of industrial nations. US: Berghahn Books.
Inzelt, A. (2004). The evolution of university–industry–government relationships during transition. Research Policy, 33, 975–995.
Jick, T. D. (1979). Mixing qualitative and quantitative methods: Triangulation in action. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24, 602–611.
Kirby, D. A. (2005). Creating entrepreneurial universities in the UK: Applying entrepreneurship theory to practice. Journal of Technology Transfer, 31(5), 599–603.
Kirby, D. A., Guerrero, M., & Urbano, D. (2011). The theoretical and empirical side of entrepreneurial universities: An institutional approach. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 28(3), 302–316.
Klofsten, M., & Jones-Evans, D. (2000). Comparing academic entrepreneurship in Europe—The case of Sweden and Ireland. Small Business Economics, 14(4), 299–310.
Krueger, N., Reilly, M., & Carsrud, A. (2000). Competing models of entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of Business Venturing, 15(5/6), 411–532.
Landry, E., Amara, N., & Rherrand, I. (2006). Why are some university researchers more likely to create spin-offs than others? Evidence from Canadian universities. Research Policy, 35(10), 1599–1615.
Lazzeretti, L., & Tavoletti, E. (2005). Higher education excellence and local economic development: The case of the entrepreneurial university of Twente. European Planning Studies, 13(3), 475–493.
Lee, J., & Win, H. N. (2004). Technology transfer between university research centers and industry in Singapore. Technovation, 24, 433–442.
Levy, R., Roux, P., & Wolff, S. (2009). An analysis of science–industry collaborative patterns in a large European university. Journal of Technology Transfer, 34, 1–23.
Liñán, F., Urbano, D., & Guerrero, M. (2011). Regional variations in entrepreneurial cognitions: Start-up intentions of university students in Spain. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 23(3), 187–215.
Link, A., & Scott, J. (2005). Opening the ivory tower’s door: An analysis of the determinants of the formation of U.S. university spin-off companies. Research Policy, 34, 1106–1112.
Lockett, A., & Wright, M. (2005). Resources, capabilities, risk capital and the creation of university spin-out companies. Research Policy, 34, 1043–1057.
Louis, K. S., Blumenthal, D., Gluck, M. E., & Stoto, M. A. (1989). Entrepreneurs in academe: An exploration of behaviours among life scientists. Administrative Science Quarterly, 34(1), 110–131.
Markman, G. D., Phan, P. H., Balkin, D. B., & Gianiodis, P. T. (2005). Entrepreneurship and university-based technology transfer. Journal of Business Venturing, 20, 241–263.
Martinelli, A., Meyer, M., & Von Tunzelmann, N. (2008). Becoming an entrepreneurial university? A case study of knowledge exchange relationships and faculty attitudes in a medium-sized, research-oriented university. Journal of Technology Transfer, 33, 259–280.
Martínez, D., Ginés-Mora, J., & Vila, L. (2007). Entrepreneurs, the self-employed and employees amongst young European higher education graduates. European Journal of Education, 42(1), 99–117.
Matkin, G. W. (1997). Organizing university economic development: Lessons from continuing education and technology transfer. New Directions for Higher Education, 97, 27–41.
Murray, F. (2002). Innovation as co-evolution of scientific and technological networks: Exploring tissue engineering. Research Policy, 31(8–9), 1389–1403.
North, D. C. (1990). Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
North, D. C. (2005). Understanding the process of economic change. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.
O’Shea, R., Allen, T. J., Chevalier, A., & Roche, F. (2005). Entrepreneurial orientation, technology transfer and spin-off performance of US universities. Research Policy, 34, 994–1009.
O’Shea, R. P., Allen, T. J., Morse, K. P., O’Gorman, C., & Roche, F. (2007). Delineating the anatomy of an entrepreneurial university: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology experience. R & D Management, 37(1), 1–16.
OECD. (2010). Higher education in regional and city development. The autonomous region of Catalonia, Spain. Paris: OECD Publishing.
Palmberg, C. (2008). The transfer and commercialization of nanotechnology: A comparative analysis of university and company researchers. Journal of Technology Transfer, 33, 631–652.
Powers, J., & McDougall, P. P. (2005). University start-up formation and technological licensing with firms that go public: A resource based view of academic entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 20, 291–311.
Rochford, F. (2001). Issues of University Governance and Management giving rise to legal liability. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 23(1), 49–61.
Roller, E., & Sloat, A. (2002). The Impact of Europeanisation on Regional Governance: A Study of Catalonia and Scotland. Public Policy and Administration, 17(2), 68–86.
Rothaermel, F. T., Agung, S. D., & Jiang, L. (2007). University entrepreneurship: Taxonomy of the literature. Industrial and Corporate Change, 16(4), 691–791.
Salter, A. J., & Martin, B. R. (2001). The economic benefits of publically funded basic research: A critical review. Research Policy, 30, 509–532.
Sandgren, A. & Strömqvist, G. (2006). Human resources and the entrepreneurial university: The cases of Finland, Spain, Sweden and the UK. URL: http://www.euerek.info/Public_Documents/Documents/Sandgren-Stromqvist-HRM.pdf. Last access September 2008.
Scherer, R. F., Brodzinsky, J. D., & Wiebe, F. A. (1991). Examining the relationship between personality and entrepreneurial career preference. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 3, 195–206.
Shane, S. (2004). Encouraging university entrepreneurship? The effect of the Bayh–Dole Act on university patenting in the United States. Journal of Business Venturing, 19, 127–151.
Siegel, D. S., Waldman, D. A., Atwater, L. E., & Link, A. N. (2004). Toward a model of the effective transfer of scientific knowledge from academicians to practitioners: Qualitative evidence from the commercialization of university technologies. Journal of Engineering and Technological Management, 21, 115–142.
Smilor, R., O’Donnell, N., Stein, G., & Welborn, R. S, I. I. I. (2007). The research university and the development of high-technology Centers in the United States. Economic Development Quarterly, 21(3), 203–222.
Stake, R. E. (2006). Multiple case study analysis. London: The Guilford Press.
Thornton, P., Ribeiro, D., & Urbano, D. (2011). Socio-cultural factors and entrepreneurial activity: An overview. International Small Business Journal, 29(2), 105–118.
Van der Sijde, P., & Tilburg, J. (2000). Support of university spin-off companies (pp. 13–21). February: Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Van Vught, F. (1999). Innovative universities. Tertiary Education and Management, 5(4), 347–354.
Vanaelst, I., Clarysse, B., Wright, M., Lockett, A., Moray, N., & S’Jegers, R. (2006). Entrepreneurial team development in academic spinouts: An examination of team heterogeneity. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, 30(2), 249–271.
Veciana, J. M., & Urbano, D. (2008). The institutional approach to entrepreneurship research: An introduction. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 4(4), 365–379.
Venkataraman, S. (2004). Regional Transformation through Technological Entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 19, 153–167.
Vohora, A., Wright, M., & Lockett, A. (2004). Critical junctures in the development of university high-tech spinout companies. Research Policy, 33, 147–174.
Webometrics (2010). Methodology of world university ranking. http://www.webometrics.info/methodology_es.html. Accessed September 28, 2008.
Wright, M., Clarysse, B., Mustar, P., & Lockett, A. (2007). Academic entrepreneurship in Europe. Massachusetts: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Yin, R. (1984). Case study research, design and methods. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Young, B., Hewitt-Dundas, N., & Roper, S. (2008). Intellectual Property management in publicly funded R&D centres. A comparison of university-based and company-based research centres. Technovation 28(8), 473–484.
Acknowledgments
We are most grateful to several participants for their comments and suggestions. We are also grateful to comments and suggestions by two anonymous reviewers, which have decisively contributed to this improved final version of our paper. Maribel Guerrero acknowledges the funding provided by the Mexican Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT). David Urbano has received financial resources from ECO2010-16760 (Spanish Ministry of Education and Science) and 2005SGR00858 (Catalan Government’s Department for Universities, Research and Information Society). James Cunningham and Damien Organ acknowledge funding received from the Higher Education Authority, Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions Cycle 4, and co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
A previous version of this paper was presented at the 2011 Technology Transfer Society Annual Conference (Augsburg, Germany).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Guerrero, M., Urbano, D., Cunningham, J. et al. Entrepreneurial universities in two European regions: a case study comparison. J Technol Transf 39, 415–434 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-012-9287-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-012-9287-2