Title: Pathways towards the entrepreneurial university for creating entrepreneurial engineers: an Italian case

Authors: Gianluca Elia; Giustina Secundo; Giuseppina Passiante

Addresses: Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Campus Ecotekne – Euro Mediterranean Incubator, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy ' Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Campus Ecotekne – Euro Mediterranean Incubator, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy ' Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Campus Ecotekne – Euro Mediterranean Incubator, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy

Abstract: Innovation and entrepreneurship are crucial processes for economic growth and regions' competitiveness. A key element to succeed in the entrepreneurial economy is the development of a new archetype of human capital, the 'entrepreneurial engineer', who is capable to match technology innovation with business challenges and societal development, assuring economical, technological and environmental sustainability. The development of such professionals requires to universities a deep reconfiguration towards the 'entrepreneurial university' model, by integrating research, education and innovation, and promoting public-private partnerships. Framed in these premises, and based on a longitudinal case study carried out within an Italian university, the paper proposes the principles, actors and processes that should characterise a higher education system engaged in experimenting the entrepreneurial university model. A set of guidelines is also provided to educators, professors and practitioners involved into the experimentation of innovative learning environments conducive for the development of entrepreneurial attitudes in engineering and technical profiles.

Keywords: entrepreneurial universities; entrepreneurial engineers; triple helix; entrepreneurship education; knowledge triangle; higher education; technological innovation; technology entrepreneurship; technoentrepreneurship; technopreneurship; Italy; case study; public-private partnerships; PPPs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEIM.2017.081486

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 2017 Vol.21 No.1/2, pp.27 - 48

Accepted: 28 Jul 2015
Published online: 10 Jan 2017 *

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