The entrepreneurial university and the region: what role for entrepreneurship departments?

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the concept of the entrepreneurial university by examining roles of academic entrepreneurship departments in driving regional economic development outcomes. While a wealth of research investigates the role, activities and function of the entrepreneurial university, very little which focuses specifically on academic entrepreneurship departments, where much of the research, teaching and knowledge exchange concerning entrepreneurship takes place. Two case studies of large and active entrepreneurship departments are presented to illustrate the different roles and activities they undertake in the sphere of economic development in their regions or locales. A dual model of engagement is proposed, whereby the entrepreneurship department operates within the framework of the entrepreneurial university, but also as a regional actor in its own right.

KEYWORDS:

• Entrepreneurial university
• regional development
• regional networks
• university-region links

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The department is now named DESI – Department of Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation – following a merger of the two previously separate IEED and Strategy departments. At the time of research, they were separate and we interviewed only members of IEED.