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Academic entrepreneurship, technology transfer and society: where next?

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Abstract

I outline a synthesis of micro and macro levels that attempts to provide a broader conceptualization of academic entrepreneurship and an appreciation of the contextual heterogeneity of academic entrepreneurship and the implications for how it occurs. The micro-level concerns how firms orchestrate their resources and capabilities, specifically knowing where resources come from and how to accumulate, bundle and configure them to generate sustainable returns. At the macro level, I analyse four different dimensions of context: temporal, institutional, social and spatial. Consequently, I argue that there is a need for a reconciliation of utilitarian and education-for-education’s sake perspectives on the role of universities.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to Simon Mosey, Philippe Mustar and participants at the Technology Transfer Society Conference 2011 for comments on an earlier version.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Management Buy-out Research, Imperial College Business School, Exhibition Road, London, SW7, UK

    Mike Wright

  2. University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium

    Mike Wright

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Correspondence to Mike Wright.

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Wright, M. Academic entrepreneurship, technology transfer and society: where next?. J Technol Transf 39, 322–334 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-012-9286-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-012-9286-3

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