The role of entrepreneurial universities in the economic and social development of nations

Abstract

Entrepreneurship education is on the rise in political agendas due to its contributions to cultural change and economic growth (Lindh and Thorgren, 2016). Expanding the focus of entrepreneurship education increases not only entrepreneurial awareness, but also entrepreneurial knowledge in individuals. These in turn can act as entrepreneurs or support entrepreneurial activities such as investors, customers and suppliers (Leitch, Hazlett and Pittaway, 2012). In this research, entrepreneurial education is not only how a new business begins. Rather, it encompasses all pedagogical programs, processes and approaches that develop entrepreneurial skills and attitudes (Fayolle and Klandt, 2006). New courses in entrepreneurship are emerging all the time (Johnston, Hamilton and Zhang, 2008), motivating young people to start new businesses, especially those based in the digital economy. Universities now play a central role in this movement, arousing the interest of researchers around the world to understand the dynamics between these universities and the environments in which they are inserted. Universities become entrepreneurial when they engage in a partnership with the agents of their environments, and students are given the practical entrepreneurial experience and opportunities to learn in contexts beyond the classrooms (Cope and Watts, 2000). They are challenged in this century to expand their missions initially focused on (1) education, and (2) research, for (3) entrepreneurship. The society expects universities to be centers of human capital production capable of generating business and jobs, a central point in developing countries that today face high unemployment rates.Most research on entrepreneurial universities focuses on case studies of entrepreneurial universities as institutions. The purpose of this research is to explore the dynamics between entrepreneurial universities and the institutional environment, and their contribution to the economic and social development of nations. This is the continuation of David V. Gibson's research on this intriguing topic (Foss and Gibson, 2015). Gibson researched entrepreneurial universities in two regions (1) Sweden, Finland and Norway, and (2) the United States and the United Kingdom. This research involves the application of the methodology in universities in North and Latin America, and Europe. To this end, the researcher will perform a sabbatical in a research group that is a world leader in the area of entrepreneurial universities. The researcher will be welcomed by Dr. David V. Gibson, associate director of the IC2 Institute of the University of Texas in Austin, USA, where he will have access to the State of the Art in the research of entrepreneurial universities and, on his return, will continue with this line of research in Brazil with the Innovation Agency - InovaUFABC of the Federal University of ABC, São Paulo. (AU)