Understanding entrepreneurial academics ‐ how they perceive their environment differently

What is it about?

Academic entrepreneurship is increasingly seen as a way in which universities can give value to their knowledge. Traditionally, academic entrepreneurship has been limited to spin-off creation and R&D commercialisation, however there is a lack of clarity about what activities constitutes academic entrepreneurship, the different type of entrepreneurial academics and how their perceptions of their environment relate to their engagement. For academics, entrepreneurial activities are discretionary, and therefore, their perceptions of how much their environment encourages the behaviour becomes highly important. Using data from the largest international study of university-business cooperation, results show that under 1% of academics undertake exclusively spin-offs creation or R&D commercialisation because the majority also engage in other entrepreneurial activities such as joint R&D and consulting and even other engagement activities with industry in the area of education and management. In addition, entrepreneurial academics in Europe perceive significantly higher motivators and more developed supporting mechanisms for academic entrepreneurship than those academics who undertake limited or no entrepreneurial activities. However, their perceptions of barriers are similar. At a managerial and policy level, the study results call into question the value for universities of prioritising a narrow academic entrepreneurship view that focuses only on spin-offs creation and R&D commercialisation. Instead, a broader view of academic entrepreneurship involving several aligned entrepreneurial activities is recommended, and then supported by appropriate mechanisms to enable academics to achieve research outcomes from their entrepreneurial activity

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