Public policy mechanisms for financing academic entrepreneurship: Implications for university-industry collaboration and innovation ecosystems: A systematic review

Public financing tools are essential for academic entrepreneurship to commercialise research into profitable businesses, but policy discussions are scattered across different research streams on technology transfer, entrepreneurial finance and university-industry cooperation. This systematic review, conducted in accordance with PRISMA 2020 standards, connects institutional effectiveness and policy design and assesses the public policy instruments adopted to promote academic entrepreneurship. Eligible studies were peer-reviewed, English-language journal articles, published between 2008 and 2026, that substantively addressed public policy instruments for financing or commercialising university research. Eight sources were searched (Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, Emerald Insight, Google Scholar, Taylor & Francis Online and Wiley Online Library); of 256 records screened, 65 peer-reviewed articles were retained. Methodological quality was appraised using CASP checklists (Qualitative, Systematic Review, and an adapted quantitative/survey version) by two independent reviewers, with studies rated high, medium or low quality. Findings were integrated through narrative (thematic) synthesis and cross-validated with bibliometric mapping, and interpreted through Public Choice Theory, Resource Dependency Theory, Institutional Logics and Ecosystem Theory. The analysis identifies three funding categories, Seed Enablers, Signal Amplifiers and Equity Bridgers, and shows that effectiveness varied with governance quality, institutional absorptive capacity and researcher incentives, rather than instrument type alone. The evidence base is limited by its concentration in a small number of highly-cited journals and predominantly high-income-country settings, by heterogeneous outcome measures across studies, and by the exclusion of grey literature and non-English-language sources. The review received no external financial or non-financial support and was not registered. The resulting paradigm provides a shifting focus from instrument effectiveness to the institutional conditions that shape outcomes under which institutional settings it works.