Transcript From the Entrepreneurial University to the University for

Importance & Relevance
of Cooperation between
Higher Education and
Commercial Applications
David B. Audretsch
The Traditional University
• The Humboldt Model
(Wilhelm von Humboldt, 1767-1835)
• Freedom & independence of research &
teaching
• “knowledge for its own sake”
• Little valuation for engagement & societal impact
Contributions to Business &
Economy
• Limited contribution for investment in physical
capital
• Limited link to (exogenous) knowledge
• Contribution in terms of social and political
values
• Limited contribution to economic development
The 2000 Lisbon Agenda
• “make Europe the most competitive and the most
dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world”
Council of Europe, Lisbon 2000
• “Our lacunae in the field of entrepreneurship needs to be
taken seriously because there is mounting evidence that the
key to economic growth and productivity improvements lies in
the entrepreneurial capacity of an economy”
EU President, Romano Prodi, 2002
New Role of University in the
Globalized Knowledge Economy
• Competitive advantage shifts from physical
capital to knowledge
• University is source of knowledge
• Demand oriented
New Role of University in
Entrepreneurial Society
• Facilitate knowledge spillovers from university
• University as solution provider – user oriented fields
and programs (i.e. biochemistry, informatics)
• Demand orientation rather than “knowledge for its
own sake”
• Flexibility in university governance, diverse
orientation, cultural norms & increased
heterogeneity and specialization of faculty & staff
• Provision of conduits for knowledge spillovers –
technology transfer offices, incubators, science
parks, sponsored research, offices of engagement,
proof of concept centers
Entrepreneurial University
X
X
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Integrated vs. Coordinated
Models
• Integrated Model – within single university
-- Cambridge University, University of
Leuven, Stanford University, Uppsala
University
• Coordinated Model – specialization of tasks
across different organizations within regional
ecosystem
-- Jena: Friedrich Schiller University of Jena; Jena
Optic; Max Planck Institute; College of Applied
Sciences
University Education for
Entrepreneurial Society
• Entrepreneurship is driving force of prosperity
• Targeted not just for potential entrepreneurs
• Programs span broad spectrum of academic
fields & disciplines
• Kauffman Foundation “Entrepreneurship Across
the Curriculum” Program & Grants
• HOPE program (now the Erasmus Centre for
Entrepreneurship) in the Netherlands – program
of the Dutch Ministry of Economics

Dublin City University Ryan Academy: co-operating with
large enterprise for EE

Huddersfield: teaching “entrepreneurship” (venturing) AND
“enterprise” (having an idea and making it happen) to reach
all students

Kaunas: targeted involvement of foreign experts (Finland,
US) for establishing and developing EE

Ljubljana: applying the Design-Thinking approach to EE
teaching to stimulate creativity

Osijek: establishing EE from scratch in difficult environment
(remote, post-socialist, post-war)

Rotterdam: self-sustainable Entrepreneurship Centre through
paid EE (training, coaching) for business target groups (SME
owners, entrepreneurial managers in larger corporations)
sepHE ▪ Peer group meeting ▪
Brussels, 4/3/2015
(from EU sephHE study)
Presentation empirica / BUW
Examples of insightful approaches
10
Bucharest: new Masters programme „Entrepreneurship and
Business Administration in the Energy Sector”

Cambridge: part-time, practice-oriented Postgraduate Diploma
for graduates with first working experience and becoming
entrepreneurs

Huddersfield: Entrepreneurship/enterprise teaching is
“everyone’s responsibility” – not everyone needs to teach it, but
if a teacher wants it, he/she will be supported

Košice: student teams develop own firms in simulated company
registration (in co-operation with National Bank of Slovakia and
Slovakian Ministry of Economics)

Linz: students develop products and business models for startups based on university patents with patent scouts

Lund: Masters Programme in Entrepreneurship with two tracks,
New Venture Creation + Corporate Entrepreneurship and
Innovation
Presentation empirica / BUW

sepHE ▪ Peer group meeting ▪
Brussels, 4/3/2015
Examples of innovative teaching
(from EU sephHE study)
11
Conclusions
• Role of university is evolving from tangential to key
partner of business
• Entrepreneurial university focuses on knowledge
spillovers & commercialization of research
• Role of university in entrepreneurial society is to be
an effective partner in local, regional & national
business ecosystems
• Requires rethinking of educational approaches &
mechanisms for partnerships
• Successful regions have vibrant university-business
partnerships