Three steps for universities to become entrepreneurial: a case study of entrepreneurial process and dynamic capabilities

Abstract

AbstractEntrepreneurial universities play a crucial role in supporting regional economy and addressing social challenges. Despite the significant contributions in the entrepreneurial university literature, little is still known about the process of entrepreneurial idea development, validation and commercialisation within the university. Inspired by this gap in the knowledge transfer literature we draw on three pillars of entrepreneurial university–teaching, research and commercialisation and explain how entrepreneurial process set up to nurture entrepreneurial opportunities within university develops dynamic capabilities that shape product commercialisation at university. We use the case study of the Henley Centre of Entrepreneurship at University of Reading in the United Kingdom, secondary data sources and sixteen interviews with university ecosystem stakeholders to explain the role of dynamic capabilities in entrepreneurial process for university to become entrepreneurial. The process which describes the entrepreneurs journey comprises five stages could become part of entrepreneurial university curricular and embedding university practices into regional entrepreneurial ecosystem.