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How can universities facilitate academic spin-offs? An entrepreneurial competency perspective

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  • Einar Rasmussen
  • Mike Wright

Abstract

Some universities are successfully involved in creating and developing new high-growth technology businesses while others struggle to do so. Clearly, the characteristics of the university and its environment are important, but explain only part of this variation. We explore how universities can promote new research-based businesses by suggesting that the nature of the support supplied depends on the demands of the spin-off firms. Adopting a demand side perspective, we seek to understand the challenges faced by new technology businesses and hence identify how universities can assist their start-up and development. From the academic entrepreneurship literature, we derive how universities can supply support for the development of firm competencies either directly or indirectly. The paper nuances the common conception of a university as one uniform entity in relation to spin-offs, and assesses the literature including all levels within the university, from central university administration, TTO, department, research group, scientist, and students. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Einar Rasmussen & Mike Wright, 2015. "How can universities facilitate academic spin-offs? An entrepreneurial competency perspective," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 40(5), pages 782-799, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jtecht:v:40:y:2015:i:5:p:782-799
    DOI: 10.1007/s10961-014-9386-3
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Academic entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial competency; New venture creation; Research commercialization; Technology transfer; University spin-off; L26; M13; O31; O32; O38;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

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