Factors fostering entrepreneurial universities to develop academic entrepreneurship activities: an assessment of European universities

The university is a specially propitious site for innovation due to such basic features as its high rate of flow through human capital (Etzkowitz, 2003). Although it is evident that entrepreneurship within the university augurs well for the host institution and for its external environment (Meyers and Pruthi, 2011), there is still a lack of agreement regarding what constitutes an entrepreneurial university. This paper tries to fill this gap, identifying the most critical factors that condition the entrepreneurial university. The methodology adopted to develop this empirical analysis consisted of a self-devised questionnaire which was used for data gathering at the European level. Building on this collected data, the relationships between independent and dependent variables integrating the proposed entrepreneurial university model were analysed. The research outcomes showed that networking, mobility and staff development in entrepreneurship were the most relevant factors for promoting economic and social development through academic entrepreneurship activities.