Title: Gone corporate? The changing face of entrepreneurship in contemporary universities

Authors: Tim Vorley, Jen Nelles

Addresses: Department of Geography, University of Cambrige, Downing Place, Cambridge CB2 3EN, UK. ' Innovation Systems Research Network, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, 1 Devonshire Place, Toronto ON M5S 3K7, Canada

Abstract: Universities are widely cited as engines of the knowledge economy, with public policy increasingly viewing universities as integral to economic growth and competitiveness. This new function, colloquially known as the Third Mission, has seen the entrepreneurial role of universities emphasised by government and institutional policy, although seemingly presents entrepreneurship as a one-dimensional process. We argue that the prevailing focus of policy has seen a shift in the nature of entrepreneurship and distinguishes between academic entrepreneurship as an individual pursuit and university entrepreneurship as institutionally led. The paper then considers how the formalisation of the Third Mission has resulted in the institutionalisation of entrepreneurship and contends that the corporate entrepreneurship literature can serve as lens to better understand the entrepreneurial turn in academe. The paper concludes by identifying the scope for corporate entrepreneurship to contribute to understanding and (re)conceptualising the nature of entrepreneurship in higher education.

Keywords: entrepreneurial universities; corporate entrepreneurship; academic entrepreneurship; university entrepreneurship; technology transfer offices; higher education.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEV.2010.034822

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 2010 Vol.2 No.2, pp.201 - 216

Received: 16 Mar 2009
Accepted: 04 Dec 2009
Published online: 23 Aug 2010 *

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