Entrepreneurship and University: How to Create Entrepreneurs from University Institutions

Abstract

At a time of economic uncertainty, it is necessary to find new alternatives to improve the employment situation. One of the solutions is to foster entrepreneurship from the institutions of higher education (IHE). The IHE do not only have the function of training students. Their work goes beyond, insofar as they have a very important role in the transfer of knowledge to society. While entrepreneurship is something not too extended in the University classroom, past experiences promoted by the IHE, highlight an important interest in such initiatives. The main objective of this chapter is to point out the essential role of the IHE in the field of entrepreneurship, based on different actions that can be applied. Among other elements, the results of initiatives such as university business incubators, university spin-offs, mentoring (expert advice), business angels (agents that bring money or experience to future entrepreneurs), etc., will be discussed. This study will be done both from a national perspective, and compared with the perspective at European level, to determine the main results of the different alternatives. Together with the above, a set of best practices for university entrepreneurship (networks of entrepreneurship, studies focused on the creation of new enterprises, updating and recycling business courses, university aids to entrepreneurship, etc.), will also be dealt with. The methodology applied, based on case studies, will allow us to know the development of university entrepreneurial activities, in order to extrapolate the experiences to the Spanish reality.