Title: The relationship between universities of professional education and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Authors: Enno Masurel, Mischa Mol

Addresses: VU Center for Entrepreneurship, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. ' School of Information Sciences, Windesheim University of Professional Education Zwolle, PO Box 10090, 8000 GB Zwolle, The Netherlands

Abstract: The relationship between universities of professional education on the one hand and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises on the other hand is seen as an important means to improve the innovative position of these enterprises. In this article, a case with a new of point of view is presented: how do entrepreneurs perceive the lecturers of these universities who are supervising the students doing their internships? The approach of our case study seemed to have worked very well. Our research makes clear that (i) innovation is hardly an explicit topic of the students; (ii) innovativeness is the worst functioning characteristic of the supervising lecturers. This leads to the recommendations that the lecturers should be instructed on the topic of innovation.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; professional education; public knowledge institutions; universities; small and medium-sized enterprises; innovation; lecturers; SMEs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJFIP.2009.022104

International Journal of Foresight and Innovation Policy, 2009 Vol.5 No.1/2/3, pp.169 - 180

Published online: 18 Dec 2008 *

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