Entrepreneurial university conception: an instauration for the advancement and utilization of knowledge

An entrepreneurial academic transformation is underway with profound implications for the university’s role. The entrepreneurial university, as an instauration for the advancement and utilization of knowledge, with a third academic mission for economic and social development, transcends and integrates education with research, in a second academic revolution. In this chapter, we discuss the entrepreneurial university conception, including the definition, features, and pre-conditions, as well as the barriers to academic entrepreneurship. While increasingly legitimated at the ideological level, the third mission struggles for acceptance in practice. Paradoxically, it is a niche phenomenon even in schools that brand themselves as an “entrepreneurial university.” Despite suffering retrogression, the entrepreneurial university is an engine of the transition to a knowledge-based society, whether leap-frogging from underdevelopment, overcoming industrial decline, or segueing a world class city’s efflorescence. Our contribution is to define the concept, discover the core elements, and distinguish the pre-conditions.