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

Figures & data

Table 1. Key themes in entrepreneurial university research.

Formal/Hard/Commercialization activities	Informal/Soft/Engagement activities
Patenting and licensing of inventions (Feldman, Feller, Bercovitz, & Burton, 2002; Wright, Piva, Mosey, & Lockett, 2009)	Collaborative Research (Bienkowska & Klofsten, 2012)
Technology Transfer Offices (e.g. Rothaermel, Agung, & Jiang, 2007)	Contract Research (e.g. Klofsten & Jones-Evans, 2000; Martinelli, Meyer, & von Tunzelmann, 2008)
Science Parks and Incubators (e.g. Phan, Siegel, & Wright, 2005; Kolympiris, Kalaitzandonakes, & Miller, 2015)	Consulting (Klofsten & Jones-Evans, 2000)
Rules and Procedures	Ad Hoc Advice (Abreu & Grinevich, 2013; Perkmann et al., 2013;)
Spin-off (e.g. Klofsten & Jones-Evans, 2000; Van Burg, 2014)	Networking with Practitioners (Bramwell & Wolfe, 2008; Gordon et al., 2012)
External Teaching (Klofsten & Jones-Evans, 2000)	Regional Governance and leadership (Uyarra, 2010)
Academic Entrepreneurship (Wright et al., 2009)	Human capital development (Drucker & Goldstein, 2007)
Research-led technological innovation (Drucker & Goldstein, 2007)	Bridging of policy and practice through engaging (Goddard & Vallance, 2013)

Table 2. Interviews conducted.

.Role	Abbreviation in Text	Department
Knowledge Exchange 1	KE1	IEED, Lancaster
Senior Management 1	SM1	IEED, Lancaster
Teaching and Research 1	T&R1	IEED, Lancaster
Student 1	S1	IEED, Lancaster
Teaching and Research 2	T&R2	IEED, Lancaster
Student 2	S2	IEED, Lancaster
Teaching and Research 3	T&R3	IEED, Lancaster
Knowledge Exchange 2	KE2	IEED, Lancaster
Teaching and Research 4	T&R4	EMLyon
Teaching and Research 5	T&R5	EMLyon
Teaching and Research 6	T&R6	EMLyon
Knowledge Exchange 3	KE3	EMLyon
Knowledge Exchange 4	KE4	EMLyon
Student 3	S3	EMLyon
Student 4	S4	EMLyon

Table 3. Activities under key roles of entrepreneurship departments.

Role		Examples of activities
		IEED programmes	Comments	EMLYON programmes	Comments
Educating current and next generation of entrepreneurs, managers, innovators to increase ‘creative capital’ of region.	Student Focussed	Modules as part of degree programmes: ‘Entrepreneurship 101’ and New Venture Planning. Providing entrepreneurship education across whole university.	‘It’s not about enterprise. It’s about those entrepreneurial skill sets and entrepreneurial behaviours that will hold students in good stead’ (T&R2); ‘Combining practice and theory is very effective’ (T&R2)	Student focussed education through Global Entrepreneurship, Entreprendre and New venture creation support (Programme d’appui à la creation d’entreprise) Programmes. ICE Inititiation To Venture Initiation à la Création d'Entreprise	‘It’s basic entrepreneurship courses. Initiation to new venture creation. From the Idea to the Business plan’ (T&R4); ‘It’s a completely a virtual and theoretical entrepreneurship awareness courses’ (KE3); ‘Students [are] working on real-life projects for sponsor companies in order to gain practical business experience and develop new competencies’ (T&R5)
	Local Business/Entrepreneur Focussed	LEAD and LEAD 2 Innovate. IEED’s evening ‘masterclasses’ GOLD Top Teams	‘I’m asked to go and give an awful lot of external talks and external advice, because of my links to the university’ (T&R2) ‘[The programmes] are driven by an integrated learning model’ (T&R3) ‘Some of the programmes just reduce the fear of working with the university’ (KE2)	‘Start-Up/Relève’. I.D.E.A. Programme	‘It is a full practical program based on innovative design thinking with a transdisciplinary approach using pedagogical tools inspired from art, science, social science, business, FabLab and design. It’s a learning by doing method’ (T&R4); ‘Teachers involved in this program are theater actors, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and consultants’ (T&R5)
Providing programmes and services to businesses in locality to enhance growth, resilience and vitality.		LEAD and LEAD 2 Innovate. Lancashire and Cumbria BOOST. GOLD.	‘It’s very effective knowledge exchange in its best sense … proper exchange rather than knowledge transfer … allow SMEs to set their own curriculum’ (T&R2); ‘We’ve delivered programmes to thousands of SMEs … we’re really well connected with the region, and we’ve had an economic impact on the region’ (T&R3); ‘We’re pretty good at designing and delivering programmes. We’re quite passionate about it’ (T&R3)	EM Lyon Incubator ‘excellent initiatives in innovative training’ (IDEFI) programme jointly organised by EM Lyon Business School and Ecole Centrale de Lyon,	‘I involve the students in all local competitions. We will visit other incubators. I have set up the so-called Winter sessions and Summer sessions. It takes them a weekend in totally isolated locations with fifteen entrepreneurs and five to six experts and made to work 24 hours straight and thoroughly.’ (KE3); ‘The incubator is also very well embedded in the regional ecosystem and integrated with financial institutions’ (T&R4)
Playing leadership or governance roles in region, and strengthening local economic networks.		Wave 2 Growth Hubs programme Lancashire and Cumbria BOOST. Small Business Charter	‘We are doing some sort of consultancy for policymakers … by the RGF’ (T&R1); ‘Three things [the department should do]: the culture, the barriers, and the network’ (S1); ‘The RGF is a whole step-change in the way that universities can support SME development’ (E&R2)	Faculty are advising French network of Chambers of commerce and industry. Engaging with local policy-makers and business through Programme d’Appui (Venture Support Program) and Chair of business creation and Enterprise Research Institute at national level.	‘We are working a lot at the regional level. I am absolutely convinced that to increase the chance of success the student should be locally networked and must meet the entire ecosystem asap. We do many networking activities with the regional ecosystem.’ (KE3); ‘We are working closely with other local institutions, such as university incubators, the regional incubator “Crealys’, the social incubator ‘Ronalpia’. I work with students who are located in other incubators and with many stakeholders who come from other entrepreneurship support structures such as, CCI, Technolple, Réseau Entreprendre, and Hatecherie.’ (KE3)
Conducting world class research into entrepreneurship (and associated areas), which underpin all activities.		Integrating research into teaching. Publishing in top journals and presenting at leading conferences.	General consensus that these linkages exist, but should be strengthened.	Integrating research into teaching. Publishing in top journals and presenting at leading conferences.	‘We must develop courses based on, more and more, evidence coming from research. So on empirical studies, which are related to important issues in the field of entrepreneurship education and training, should nourish and serve our teaching programs.’ (KE3); ‘I believe that there is a gap between teaching and research spheres and we should find intermediate steps and tools in order to translate the scientific production to be more diffusible and useful to our students and young entrepreneurs.’ (KE3)
Mobilizing and transferring entrepreneurial experience.		Industrial Placements.Sandwich Year Entrepreneurs in Residence.Guest lectures/workshops	‘EIRs are a great teaching resource, great ambassadors, and they bring in the real world experience for the students’ (KE1); ‘To get some kind of different perspective … to think a little bit outside the box’ (T&R1); ‘The [EIR] role involves a lot of work with students … assisting with projects, business ideas.’ (T&R2)	I.D.E.A programme. Local Chamber of Commerce’s ‘reseau d’entreprendre’. Approximately 2 to 3 meetings between management school and chamber of commerce Lyon every year	‘The invitation in our programs outside personalities, who represent important external institutions (CCI, Réseau Entreprendre, Rhone-Alpes Création, etc.), participates in the development of programs since their interventions are likely to feed the content of lessons, to re-orient the direction and the aim of the program and to push teachers to reflect, etc’. (T&R6)
Creating an entrepreneurial culture and ecosystem.		Community Events/Outreach ‘Campus in the City’ Events	Could work more with other regional universities to do this (S1) ‘It is the responsibility of not just the entrepreneurship department, but a lot of bodies in the region to really make sure that entrepreneurship education is available and accessible to all’ (S1) ‘I offer talks on behalf of the university to local businesses, and on behalf of local businesses to the university’ (T&R2)	Local business people and Chamber of Commerce are actively invited onto governing advisor board of the school	‘The incubator development committee is composed by thirty members who are all professionals and experts of entrepreneurship in Lyon including: the five largest banks, the five most famous accountants and lawyers. In addition, we have representatives from Rhone-Alpes Region, Greater Lyon, CCI, three accelerators, EMLyon alumni and a set of Business Angels, etc.’ (KE3); ‘Interactions with the ecosystem are common and in many ways. For example on I.D.E.A, it happens regularly that regional institutions and entrepreneurs contact us to get involved in the program.’ (T&R4)

SMEs, small and medium sized enterprises.

Table 4. Established and extra dimensions of the entrepreneurial university.

EU activities/ mechanisms already established in the literature	Established mechanisms we find the entrepreneurship department undertakes	What ‘extra’ we find the entrepreneurship department undertakes
Patenting and licensing	Networking with practitioners	Teaching the next generation of entrepreneurs and equipping them with skills they need.
Technology transfer offices	Ad hoc advice	Student’s research projects in SMEs
Science parks and incubators	Incubation-physical and ‘social’ incubation	Holding conferences and events for local/regional stakeholders
Internal rules and procedures	Regional governance	Stimulating an entrepreneurial culture and atmosphere
Academic entrepreneurship	Human capital development and leadership	Delivering government business support programmes
Contract research	External teaching	Training courses for local entrepreneurs/ SMEs
Consulting	Collaborative research	Combining research, teaching, and practice around entrepreneurship
Spin-off	Bridging policy and practice

SMEs, small and medium sized enterprises.

Figure 1. Formal and informal forms of engagement between entrepreneurship department and region.

Table

Metric	North West England^a	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region^b
Gross Disposable Household Income (€)	18 949 (90.3% of UK average)	31 179 (95% of France Metropolitan average)
Share of UK Gross Value Added (GVA)	9.4%	11.7%
Total regional GVA (€)	160.6 billion	242.5 billion
Business birth date (of active enterprises)	11.1%	12.5%
Business death rate (of active enterprises)	10.7%	12%
Employment Rate	69.8%	91.1%
Manufacturing industry Share of UK GVA	13.3%	15.3%
Population	7,052,177 (2011 census)	7,808,323 (2014 census)
Size (km sq)	14,100
Composition of Regional GVA	Service industries: 50% Production industries: 28% Distribution industries: 14% Construction industries: 8%	Agriculture: 1% Production industries: 18.4% Construction industries: 7% Services industries: 73.6
Proportion of working-age population with no qualifications	14%	29.2%
Total spending on R&D (€)	3.8 billion	6.5 billion
High education institutions	12 universities	10 universities
Number of students	250 000	305 000 Students
Number of patent	2013: 1,259 applications, 204 granted	2 577 patents
Number of firms	2012- 532 000: SMEs (0-249 employees): 532 000 Employers: 132 000	550179:  - 0 employee: 364 589  - 1–9 employees: 149 986  - 10–49 employees: 29 594  - +50 employees: 6 010

^aData from: Office of National Statistics “Regional Profile of North West - Economy, June 2013”; Lancashire Enterprise Partnership (2014) “Lancashire Strategic Economic Plan, a Growth Deal for the Arc of Prosperity”; The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford (2013) “North West: Census Profile”; Office for National Statistics (2012) “Summary: UK Non-Financial Business Economy, 2012 Regional Results”; Office of National Statistics (2012) “Portrait of the North West”, Regional Trends 43 2010/11; Intellectual Property Office (2013) “Facts and figures 2013/2013 calendar years”.

^bData from : Insee : Office of National Statistics - Chambers of commerce Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes - Auvergne Rhône-Alpes « Nouvel espace régional et dynamiques métropolitaines »

Feldman, M., Feller, I., Bercovitz, J., & Burton, R. (2002). Equity and the technology transfer strategies of American Research Universities. Management Science, 48(1), 105–121. doi: 10.1287/mnsc.48.1.105.14276

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Wright, M., Piva, E., Mosey, S., & Lockett, A. (2009). Academic entrepreneurship and business schools. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 34, 560–587. doi: 10.1007/s10961-009-9128-0

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Bienkowska, D., & Klofsten, M. (2012). Creating entrepreneurial networks: Academic entrepreneurship, mobility, and collaboration during PhD education. Higher Education, 64(2), 207–222. doi: 10.1007/s10734-011-9488-x

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Rothaermel, F., Agung, S., & Jiang, L. (2007). University entrepreneurship: A taxonomy of the literature. Industrial and Corporate Change, 16(4), 691–791. doi: 10.1093/icc/dtm023

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Klofsten, M., & Jones-Evans, D. (2000). Comparing academic entrepreneurship in Europe – The case of Sweden and Ireland. Small Business Economics, 14(4), 299–309. doi: 10.1023/A:1008184601282

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Martinelli, M., Meyer, M., & von Tunzelmann, N. (2008). Becoming and entrepreneurial university? A case study of knowledge-exchange relationships and faculty attitudes in a medium-sized, research-oriented university. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 33(3), 259–283. doi: 10.1007/s10961-007-9031-5

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Phan, P., Siegel, D., & Wright, M. (2005). Science parks and incubators: Observations, synthesis, and future research. Journal of Business Venturing, 20(2), 165–182. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2003.12.001

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Kolympiris, C., Kalaitzandonakes, N., and Miller, D. (2015). Location choice of academic entrepreneurs: Evidence from the US biotechnology industry. Journal of Business Venturing, 30(2), 227–254. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2014.02.002

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Abreu, M., & Grinevich, V. (2013). The nature of academic entrepreneurship in the UK: Widening the focus on entrepreneurial activities. Research Policy, 42(2), 408–422. doi: 10.1016/j.respol.2012.10.005

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Perkmann, M., Tartarik, V., McKelvey, M., Autio, E., Broström, A., D’Este, P., … Sobrero, M. (2013). Academic engagement and commercialisation: A review of the literature on university–industry relations. Research Policy, 42(2), 423–442. doi: 10.1016/j.respol.2012.09.007

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Van Burg, E. (2014). Commercializing science by means of university spin-offs: An ethical review. In A. Fayolle & D. T. Redford (Eds.), Handbook on the entrepreneurial university (pp. 346–359). Edward Elgar: Chltenham.

 Google Scholar

Bramwell, A., & Wolfe, D. (2008). Universities and regional economic development: The entrepreneurial University of Waterloo. Research Policy, 37(8), 1175–1187. doi: 10.1016/j.respol.2008.04.016

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Gordon, I., Hamilton, E., & Jack, S. (2012). A study of a university-led entrepreneurship education programme for small business owner/managers. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 24(9-10), 767–805. doi: 10.1080/08985626.2011.566377

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Uyarra, E. (2010). Conceptualizing the regional roles of universities, implications and contradictions. European Planning Studies, 18(8), 1227–1246. doi: 10.1080/09654311003791275

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Drucker, J., & Goldstein, H. (2007). Assessing the regional economic development impacts of universities: A review of current approaches. International Regional Science Review, 30(1), 20–46. doi: 10.1177/0160017606296731

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Goddard, J., & Vallance, P. (2013). The University and the City. Oxfordshire: Routledge.

 Google Scholar