Turning science into business: A case study of a major European research university

Azèle Mathieu, Martin Meyer () and Bruno van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie
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Martin Meyer: SPRU - Science & Technology Policy Research Freeman Centre University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom.

No 07-035.RS, Working Papers CEB from Université Libre de Bruxelles, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Centre Emile Bernheim (CEB)

Abstract: The ‘entrepreneurial university’ is an increasingly frequent notion in debates about new ways of knowledge production and the changing relationships between university, industry and government. A rich literature has developed exploring outputs of such activity, most notably ‘patenting’, ‘licensing’, and ‘spin-outs’. There is also a literature exploring the organisational process in institutes of higher education (HEI’s). All too often these two streams of literature ignore each other. The objective of this paper is to make a bridging contribution by exploring the case of Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.). The main research question is: Does it pay to make the entire university entrepreneurial? Our observations suggest that this would be an effort that could possibly overstretch an institution’s resources. The U.L.B. case illustrates the potential for nurturing entrepreneurial activities locally as well as the possibilities and limitations of top-down actions instilling entrepreneurial culture mongst academic rank and file.

Keywords: technology transfer; entrepreneurial university; patent; licenses; spin-off (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D23 M13 O31 O32 O34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-ent, nep-ipr, nep-knm and nep-sog
Date: Written
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http://www.solvay.edu/EN/Research/Bernheim/documents/wp07035.pdf First version, 2007 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sol:wpaper:07-035

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