Entrepreneurial University: The Costa Rica Institute of Technology Experience (original) (raw)
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Drivers and implications of entrepreneurial orientation for academic spin-offs
International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 2020
This paper has been designed with a dual goal. On the one hand, the paper aims to examine the role of management teams, industry agents, and university agents as providers of a series of key resources and capabilities for academic spin-offs (ASOs) to develop a strategic entrepreneurial orientation (EO). On the other hand, the paper also examines the influence of EO on ASO performance. To this end, an extensive review was conducted based on Resource Based View (RBV), EO, and ASO literature. The assumptions of these frameworks were explored in an empirical study involving 107 Spanish ASOs backed by the Spanish Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs). The findings from multilevel linear regression suggest that the presence of non-academic managers within ASO management teams, the achievement of external funding through VC firms, and the TTO efficacy exert a positive influence on the exhibition of higher levels of EO by ASOs. Regarding the relationship between the EO and the performance exhibited by ASOs, the results of multiple regression analysis reveal that ASO performance is strongly and positively influenced by the level of EO exhibited by the firm. The contributions of the paper expand the traditional focus of EO research and attend to the demands of both EO and ASO research, thereby offering a contextualized analysis of both the factors that enhance the EO of ASOs as well as the impact of EO on ASO performance.
Exploring the Role of Education on the Entrepreneurial Motivations of Academic Spin-offs’ Founders
Journal of Entrepreneurship and Business, 2019
Academic spin-offs are increasingly assuming a relevant role in the social and economic contexts. However, only a few studies have looked at the specific role of human capital in these organisations. The contradictory dimension in human capital is the role of the founder's education, in which some studies have revealed the relationship between entrepreneurial motivation and education levels. Other studies indicated that these two variables are uncorrelated. Hence, this study seeks to explore and understand the reasons for these contradictory results by conducting case studies using in-depth interviews on six Portuguese academic spin-offs. The findings have allowed us to understand causes and difficulties experienced by Ph.D. students to create new ventures. Furthermore, they also have allowed us to explore the importance of complementary professional and technical training in entrepreneurial motivations.
Universities are now considered to be vital players in the process of the transferring of knowledge, innovation and technology from the academic to the commercial/productive sector. If in the past universities covered this role by granting patents to outsiders, the situation has deeply changed. Today academic institutions are also dedicated to the creation and promotion of spin-offs and start-ups, as a response to the social pressures on accountability and dialogue with economic world through the sharing of scientific research results. This paper analyzes the existing definitions of University Spin-offs (USOs) in order to systematize them and to identify the possible criteria for classifying the different aspects of this multi-headed concept. Plan/methodology/approach: The research will present a review of existing national and international literature on the subject in order to outline the theoretical framework within which the whole survey will then be placed, using a qualitative methodology. Findings: The different definitions of USOs, which are not explicitly clarified by the authors, cover a big variety of phenomena and this is a problem for the comparability of the different researches. What is original/value of paper: Define a typology of the different USOs. University Fourth Mission. Spin-offs and Academic Entrepreneurship: a theoretical review through the variety of definitions Universities are now considered vital players in the process of the transfer of knowledge, innovation and technology from the academic to the commercial/productive sector. If in the past universities covered this role by granting patents to outsiders, the situation has deeply changed. Today academic institutions are also dedicated to the creation and promotion of spin-offs and start-ups, as instruments for responding to the social pressure on accountability and dialogue with economy through the sharing of scientific research results (Geiger 2006; Laredo 2007). This paper analyzes the existing definitions of USOs in order to systematize them and to identify criteria for classifying the different aspects of this multi-headed concept. A preliminary issue is the difference between the terms " spin-offs " and " start-ups " and the reason why only spin-offs is used in this paper. In particular, the label " start-up " can be applied to any new form of innovative company in its embryonic stage. Once the project has launched and has separated itself from the university, it has become its own entity, therefore it can be describe as " university research spin-off ". To be a spin-off could be considered as a genetic condition which continues throughout the life on the business market and that could be mitigated if the spin-off becomes bigger than the original istitution.
Minerva, 2020
The present study contributes elements to the literature for the understanding of those institutional factors of organizations that promote the creation of spin-offs in universities. Institutional barriers to spin-off creation within universities are addressed from a qualitative perspective. The study was carried out in Colombia, a country with low levels of innovation and entrepreneurship. Purposive and snowball sampling were employed to identify experts. Participants were selected in accordance with their extensive experience in entrepreneurship, innovation, or technology transfer. The sample size was decided by saturation criteria, and 15 interviews were selected with this method. The semi-structured interview was chosen for information collection, and a thematic analysis was employed for data interpretation. Several aspects which permit suggestions for the future spin-off research agenda were identified: perceptions of the university, teaching focus, academic cultures that reward publication as a means of knowledge transfer, restrictions for public university spin-offs in developing countries, few economic and non-economic incentives for entrepreneurship, trust as a determining cultural characteristic, and limitations to the understanding of the spin-off concept that affect their creation. These results may be extrapolated to Latin America and other developing regions with similar entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Barriers to Academic Entrepreneurship in Knowledge Based Spinoffs
Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurial Success and its Impact on Regional Development, 2016
In this chapter, we will discuss the role of knowledge as a strategic resource for companies. Universities focus on knowledge development as the main result of their research groups activities; but really few exploit this intangible resource through knowledge-based spinoffs (KBSOs), given some internal barriers that hinder the academic entrepreneurship activity. In order to identify them, is performed an exploratory analysis with a population of 130 research groups belonging to social science and Humanities areas Faculties of Autonomous University of Barcelona. The results confirm the conclusions presented in previous studies regarding existence of two types of barriers to enterprise: structural and operational. Also, it evidences the existence of different types of research groups, and how the size, research area and principal researcher's academic status affect the way that barriers to academic entrepreneurship are perceived, as well as both transfer processes and entrepreneurial activity that are developed.
The influence of the university department upon spin-off venture evolution is complex and dynamic. We examine how the university department context influences the spin-off process from the perspectives of both the spin-off venture and the department. By comparing the development of entrepreneurial competencies within spin-offs based in different departments at the same universities we observed significant differences in early venture performance. Small differences in initial departmental support from management and senior academics for gaining commercial experience and spending time exploring the commercial opportunity were seen to have a major impact upon the subsequent spin-off development path. Supported ventures gained momentum as the department helped develop entrepreneurial competencies and influenced how these competencies were developed from external actors outside the department. By contrast, a lack of departmental support for entrepreneurship severely constrained the evolution of spin-offs regardless of university level policies and practices. This emphasizes the need for a shift in focus from the well-studied university level to the relatively neglected department level to help explain institutional differences in university spin-off activity.
Spin-off venture creation in a university context-An entrepreneurial process view
Universities are found to be an important source of new innovations and increasingly seen as a seedbed for new spin-off ventures. Policy makers are encouraging research-based universities to increase the rate of spin-off formation. In order to facilitate spin-offs, however, a better understanding of the process leading to the emergence and development of university spin-offs is needed. This paper explores the new venture creation process in a university setting from an entrepreneurial process perspective. The university spin-off company is an outcome of an entrepreneurial process based on exploitation of a university technology. Definitions of entrepreneurship often include the individual(s), the opportunity, the context, and the process over time. Hence, the creation of a university spin-off can be seen as a process where a research-based idea or opportunity, one person or a team of entrepreneurs, and a context create the necessary properties for a new organization to emerge. Prior research has identified factors related to the technology or business idea, the individuals, and the university context that influence spin-off formation, but few studies have addressed the process by which such companies emerge. This calls for an effort to investigate the entire process in order to reveal how spin-offs emerge from universities and to identify the areas where more research is needed. By utilizing the four basic theories or 'motors' to explain processes outlined by Van De Ven and Poole (1995), the aim of this paper is to provide a better theoretical explanation of how new research-based spin-off ventures are developed in a university context. First, the lifecycle or stage theories assume that change processes proceeds through defined steps or stages of development (immanent program). Second, the teleological theories assume that it is the purpose or final goal that guides the development process. Hence, the developing entity is purposeful and adaptive, and the process can be seen as a repetitive sequence of goal formulation, implementation, evaluation, and modification of goals (purposeful enactment). Third, the dialectic theories explain development processes by conflict between entities, and refer to the balance of power between opposing entities (conflict and synthesis). The fourth type, evolutionary theories, assumes that change processes goes through a continuous cycle of variation, selection, and retention (competitive selection). Hence, each theory relies on a different motor driving the development process; a life-cycle motor, a teleological motor, a dialectical motor, and an evolutionary motor. This paper proposes that each of these theories can explain different aspects of the university spin-off process. First, the research-based invention is refined to become a business idea and
This paper investigated how universities facilitate the process of spin-off venture formation based on academic research. Building on a capability perspective, we add to the literature on university characteristics and resources by exploring how the university context impacts the entrepreneurial process. We based our study on two mid-range universities and followed the start-up process of four spin-off ventures. Based on the results of our longitudinal study, we propose a set of three university capabilities that facilitate the venture-formation process: (1) creating new paths of action, (2) balancing both academic and commercial interests, and (3) integrating new resources. Each capability is particularly important for specific phases in the venturing process. Our findings suggest that these capabilities are dependent on prior spin-off experience and reside within several actors both inside and outside of the university. Furthermore, universities with weaknesses in the identified areas can take strategic action to develop these capabilities to some degree.