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An entrepreneurial mode is the latest stage in the evolution of the scientific role. Earlier phases included the differentiation of the modern experimental scientific role from natural philosophy in the mid 17th century. Indeed, the creation of the scientific role preceded the invention of the term “scientist” by Cambridge philosopher of science, William Whewell, in 1834 to describe Mary Somerville, a unique researcher. A transition from amateur to professional scientist followed in the mid 19th century, exemplified by another female scientist, Maria Mitchell, who carried out her astronomic investigations at home until she was appointed to an academic post in middle age (Bergland, 2008). A transition from basic researcher to entrepreneurial scientist is currently underway as part of a broader reconstruction of innovation systems from double helix (government–university or government–industry) to a university–industry–government triple helix (Etzkowitz, 2008). Each transformation in the scientific role reflected a change in the role of knowledge in the political economy. Thus, experimental science provided the instrumentation that allowed ocean commerce to be carried on in a secure fashion; professional science discoveries that were scaled up to provide the basis for the chemical and dye industries. Entrepreneurial academic scientists in collaboration with venture capitalists, building upon a substrate of government-funded research, created the biotechnology industry.

Following the triple helix (TH) model and the way knowledge is transferred into the industry domain, this chapter aims to define features interface that should be implemented in order to facilitate the University–Industry (UI) relationship and thus encourage the spin-off creation.

In order to support this relationship, a new business model configuration of an entrepreneurial ecosystem is proposed, aiming at creating a sustainable environment, where business entities can grow. The field of the Governance of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems is also investigated in order to define a framework for launching, developing, and sustaining a company over time.

This chapter presents a case study developed within the University of Salento (Italy). It capitalizes results from three different research analyses, based on questionnaires and interviews with actors of the spin-off network (professors and researchers, graduating students, admin-tech staff of the Technology Transfer Office, spin-offs’ CEOs/Associates, and R&D managers of external companies) and on results coming from scientific publications and regional/national reports in the innovation context.

A research methodology based on semantic network analysis and sentiment analysis has been applied in order to identify which features an interface should implement in order to facilitate the UI relationship and encourage the spin-off creation.

To support the start-up overcoming the “death valley,” the creation of a link between the strategy used to transfer value to the market and the phase of innovation is proposed inside the business model configuration. Some aspects of a governance model of an entrepreneurial ecosystem were also presented in order to support the business evolution of a single business entity and assuring sustainability over time.

The Triple Helix model of academia, government and industry posits that the university can play an important role, even an entrepreneurial one, in innovation in increasingly knowledge-based societies (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000). No longer the “ivory tower” universities are now moving toward an entrepreneurial paradigm. The purpose of this research effort is to examine how such a migration has been accomplished in Malta with a particular focus on the changing activities of its University.

This paper uses advanced bibliometric techniques to examine the scientific output of the University of Malta. Data were downloaded from Thomson Reuters Web of Science. These data were then processed using the software packages Bibexcel and VOSviewer to produce detailed maps of the scientific activity.

The results were that the University has greatly expanded its scientific footprint since its 2004 accession to the European Union (EU). International collaborations and highly cited papers have gone up significantly.

Only one country was examined in this effort, and further study should compare to Malta to other small EU countries. The findings suggest that while some might consider Malta’s progress modest in absolute terms, it has made significant strides from its prior-to-accession base.

The findings have been presented to the Malta Council for Science and Technology as evidence of the outcomes of their efforts.

Because Malta is the smallest member-state in the EU, little research has been done on its science base. However, the authors believe their findings could inform research efforts on other EU, and even non-EU, countries.

The paper aims to clarify the characteristics of the entrepreneurial university, beyond commercial entrepreneurship to other aspects of entrepreneurship, such as social or different demands for solutions to problems in society, and integrate the entrepreneurial practices between teaching, research, extension and innovation within an entrepreneurial ecosystem. The purpose of this study was to propose an entrepreneurial university model that contemplates elements and guidelines.

The paper opted for qualitative research of exploratory methodological approach and case study with units of analysis (management, technological innovation nucleus, academic units and ecosystem) in a Brazilian public university. For data collection, we used semi-structured interviews as primary data, and as a secondary, documentary survey, using as reference the theoretical model based on the bibliographic mapping.

The analyzed university is still in the process of transforming into an entrepreneurial university, and for that, it is necessary to devise strategies in a set. In addition, to giving new meaning to the concept of the entrepreneurial university, we reorganized the characteristics into dimensions, and we suggested guidelines.

Due to the search approach chosen, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed model further in different contexts, as non-technological, for example.

This study presents the understanding that different areas of knowledge can incorporate extension activities and contribute to the transformation of traditional universities into entrepreneurs and, starting point for other empirical studies.

An entrepreneurial university incorporates its social role as it meets the demands of society.

This paper fulfills an identified need to expand the characteristics of an entrepreneurial university within an entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how certain characteristics of the university–industry–government collaboration facilitate knowledge creation and management, hence innovation focusing on particularities of the Brazilian scenario.

As a conceptual basis, there are correlations between theories of knowledge management and the Triple Helix, a model referenced to university–industry–government cooperation. The research was conducted through a multiple case study at two National Institutes of Science and Technology (INCTs in Portuguese).

The main results show the importance of participation in the INCT program, as it enables the creation of an organizational structure with the coordinator’s leadership, who directs the flow of knowledge among organizations and stimulates innovation.

The choice of the topic is justified by the lack of studies on the identification and analyses of the main aspects of this type of collaboration in an integrated way.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the operative meaning of collaboration in a life science network.

Data were collected through participatory observations and interviews between 2014 and 2015. The data presented were derived from field notes from participant observations, interviews and documents within a life science network in the Öresund region (southern part of Sweden and the Copenhagen area).

The findings suggest that collaboration within the life science network should be viewed as a lively, organizational assembly in the process of becoming, in contrast to the idea that it is operating on the basis of organic principles. Collaboration thus could be viewed as consisting of self-subsistent parts (participants and organizations) that are detached and plugged into different collaborative networks.

In the context of the emerging idea of re-building the state welfare system with the economic support of producing and selling knowledge, there seems to be a growing interest, especially from the point of view of policymakers, in the phenomenon of collaboration. This paper offers exclusive ethnographic illustrations into the heterogeneity of collaboration.

This study aims to pose one major research question, i.e. why and how to use knowledge management methods in order to enhance knowledge creation in academia – at universities and research institutes?

The paper defines KM in academia as any systematic activity related to support and enhancement of the creation of scientific knowledge and achievement of research goals, including both social process and relevant computer technology tools. Two surveys and case studies were carried out to achieve the research purpose at Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST). The first survey focused on knowledge management in academia and investigated the current KM situations, special and diverse requirements from researchers. The second survey concentrated on supporting the creative processes of academic research and investigated which aspects of knowledge creation processes should be supported in particular. Based on survey findings, the practical solutions are further presented aimed to improve the creative environment for scientific knowledge creation.

The findings from the first survey showed that the KM obstacles reflected on various aspects: technological support, the people involved in creation activities, laboratory cultural, and so on. The seven most critical questions and three most important questions were evaluated by responders with respect to academic knowledge creation process in the second survey.

The study advances the belief that knowledge management (KM) is applicable not only in industrial and market organizations, but also in academia.

With respect to the survey results, it is suggested that a creative environment in academia should be enhanced from both “soft” and “hard” aspects under the guidelines of a systems thinking framework for KM in scientific labs. From the soft side, by using personalization strategies, a knowledge‐sharing culture has to be built in labs to facilitate scientific communication, debate and team work. From the hard side, by using technology strategies, a practical example is presented in JAIST concerning the implementation of the hard aspect of creative environment. It is hoped that the research can launch further debate and prompt practical steps to help research institutes or universities improve their management and increase the research efficiency.

An essential point is that the study is based on the feedback from knowledge creators in a typical knowledge creation organization, which makes the analyses and conclusions more comprehensive and persuasive from both the theoretical and practical points of view. The research not only explores some hidden or tacit problems existing in academic knowledge management and scientific knowledge creation, but also proposes solutions for scientific knowledge creation that were found to be valuable by university management.

This paper aims to explore the implementation of an innovation in an executive education programme in the context of the Indian manufacturing industry. This paper presents an understanding of a conceptual framework for delivering a unique manufacturing leadership programme, explaining the different linkages between government, industry and academia for changing the mindset of participants and growth of a nation by developing highly skilful employees to lead India’s manufacturing industry.

The paper reports a single case study of an innovative manufacturing leadership development programme. Primary data were obtained from focus group studies and interviews. Documentary evidence in the form of reports, student work, course curriculum and meeting minutes was studied. The individual participants in the programme are used as units of analysis to explore systems of innovation, at individual levels. The analysis was carried out by applying theoretical models to explain the design, delivery and development of the programme over the years.

The findings from this research are an exploration of factors for sustaining the value of a system of innovation with special focus on a subsystem of knowledge creation and competence building. Institutional change is found to be a key input to the innovation process in terms of a collaborative mindset between three different academic institutes well known in different areas of expertise. Building an innovative coordination mechanism and curriculum combining academics with practical learning helped in changing the mindset of the students and faculty of the programme. This is linked to the development of country through leadership development by mindset change in mentors and students. The findings show that the studied programme has grown in terms of creating demand (in the form of increased applicants), guaranteeing 100 per cent placement with an average 50 per cent increase in salary and accelerated career in terms of role in the organisation. This was possible through continuous improvement practices for making local changes to the programme from time to time and building a community of practice in collaboration with industry.

The value of this research lies in highlighting the importance of international cooperation in speeding up the process of transferring management and technological knowledge from academia to industry. The framework developed for implementing a system of learning for creating a national system of innovation in manufacturing can be generalised to develop more such programmes in emerging nations for addressing skill challenges to lead future innovative projects.