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Universities concerned with third mission activities are engines that increase regional competitiveness since their primary role in the knowledge-based economy is to stimulate innovation by transferring new knowledge and technologies to industry and society. The purpose of this paper is to show how IC can be mobilized by university technology transfer offices (TTOs) due to the correlation between efficient university technology transfer and intellectual capital (IC), thus contributing to the third stage of IC research.

The application of the Maturity Model developed by Secundo et al. (2016) is expanded by collecting data from 18 universities in the European countries to illustrate how IC can be used as a strategy and solution to the barriers faced by TTOs.

TTOs with increased access to and utilization of IC tend to have higher maturity levels. This new application of the Maturity Model, proves that IC can be utilized to manage and improve the efficiency of TTOs.

An indication of the level of access that TTOs have to university IC is given leading to recommendations to improve university technology transfer. Future research should include a wider sample of universities to increase the validation of the Maturity Model and to prove it as a suitable and strategic approach for IC management at TTOs.

Knowing which IC components are essential for the efficiency of TTOs, and which IC needs greater utilization, will provide insights into policy and practical interventions to improve their efficiency, resulting in increasing universities’ competitiveness.

A new approach and perspective on utilizing IC to improve university technology transfer to contribute to the third stage of IC research calling for more practice-oriented research.

Intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) in universities is gaining increasing attention, especially through the adoption of innovative technologies. Online media, as a relevant source of Big Data, is shifting ICD. The purpose of this paper is to explore how Big Data generated through online media, such as websites and platforms like Facebook, can be used as rich sources of data and viable disclosure channels for ICD in a university.

This is an exploratory case study, following the methodology in Yin (2014), that examines how online media data contributes to closing the ICD gap. The IC disclosed through different online media channels by a private university in Albania is analysed using Secundo et al.’s (2016) collective intelligence framework. The online data sources include the university’s website, Facebook page, periodic reports and statements outlining future goals.

What the authors discover in this research is that IC is an important part of how universities operate, and IC is communicated through social media, although unintentionally. However, this only serves to highlight the importance of IC, and if researchers want to discover IC and understand how it works in an organisation, they need to include social media and a prime resource for developing that understanding.

Most importantly, the findings add to a growing consensus that ICD researchers, and researchers in other management and accounting disciplines, who traditionally rely on annual corporate social responsibility and other periodic reports, they need to change their medium of analysis because these reports no longer can be relied on to understand IC and its impact on an organisation.

Online media tools and the advent of Big Data have created new opportunities for universities to disclose their IC information to stakeholders in a timely manner and to gain relevant insights into their impact on the society. The originality of the paper resides in the contribution of Big Data to the ICD research stream.

Successful promotion of academic entrepreneurship is a determining factor in the pursuit of university entrepreneurialism. This paper aims to illustrate how qualitative data on the performance of the technology transfer office (TTO), based on access to intellectual capital (IC) indicators, can be transformed into a metric to provide insights that assist in strategy development for a university moving towards a more entrepreneurial configuration.

The TTO performance metric takes the form of a self-assessment of access to IC indicators, which are determinants of effectiveness. This study involves the use of the metric through the completion of an online survey and follow-up interviews, to collect and analyse the data.

The performance of 34 TTOs in continental Europe and the UK are measured, and insights into the success of promoting academic entrepreneurship were gained. The qualitative data are studied in detail to illustrate how the university can strategically leverage IC to enhance academic entrepreneurship.

This study recommends that the university align the mission statement and organisational structure of the TTO, to enable access to IC. This, in turn, may result in increased academic entrepreneurship activities, which will drive the university towards increased entrepreneurialism.

The interpretation of the qualitative data relating to the performance of the TTO, and which factors influence it, aids in understanding the performance of the entrepreneurial university and illustrates, which strategic interventions can be made.

Understanding the link between IC, academic entrepreneurship (as encapsulated in the performance of the TTO) and the characteristics of the entrepreneurial university is particularly useful for university management decisions.

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of a university that uses a collective intelligence approach for managing its intellectual capital (IC). Specifically, the authors investigate how one of Europe’s oldest business schools, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy), manages IC through stakeholder engagement to achieve academia’s third mission so contributing to social and economic development.

Data are collected through semi-structured interviews and Ca’ Foscari University’s strategic plan. Secundo et al.’s (2016) collective intelligence framework is used to analyse the data. Alvesson and Deetz’s (2000, pp. 19-20) critical management tasks – insight, critique and transformative redefinition – are adopted to frame and discuss the results.

On the assumption that a university is a collective intelligence system, the findings demonstrate that IC management needs to change to incorporate an ecosystem perspective, reflecting the fourth stage of IC research. The IC management at the university incorporates its core goal (what), the collective involvement of internal and external stakeholders to achieve the goal (who), the motivations behind the achievement of the goal (why) and, finally, the processes activated inside the university (how) and indicators to assess value creation.

A new perspective for managing IC in universities that adopts a collective intelligence approach is further developed. Contributions to the fourth stage of IC research – IC in an ecosystem – are highlighted that expand the concept of IC value creation beyond universities into wider society.

Two key consequences of this case study are that more stakeholders have become involved in IC management and that IC management requires critical rethinking, given the universities’ evolving role.

This paper brings together issues that are usually dealt with in separate domains of the literature: IC management and collective intelligence in the university setting.

The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the articles presented in the special issue “Entrepreneurial learning dynamics in knowledge-intensive enterprises.” The special issue is inspired by recent research on entrepreneurial learning dynamics in knowledge-intensive enterprises literature. The aim is to extend and consolidate this emerging research area exploring entrepreneurship as a never-ending dynamic learning process, as well as, to cross-fertilize entrepreneurship and organizational learning studies.

The paper is based on a literature and published document review, experiential reflections and argument.

The paper reveals an integrative framework to highlight the breath of entrepreneurial learning research according to different level of analysis: the context where learning happen, the different typologies of entrepreneurial learning processes, the ontological levels at which learning can occur and the different typologies of entrepreneurial learners. Continuous learning processes allow entrepreneurs to develop and grow, as well as, enable knowledge-intensive enterprises to engage in strategic renewal processes.

Although, entrepreneurial learning research so far has focused on applying existing theories in the entrepreneurial context, more research is needed to broaden the perspective and understanding how entrepreneurial learning can help to face key entrepreneurship’s challenges in different context.

The paper presents an holistic approach of current entrepreneurial learning research and encourages researchers to explore how different learning types come into play in different entrepreneurial contexts (start-up initiatives, strategic renewal in incumbent enterprises, ventures development and growth).

The paper aims to contributes on the debates about University Idea Incubation by investigating the role and the engagement of different University's stakeholders in the process of opportunity recognition in an entrepreneurship education program targeted at students with an interdisciplinary background.

Through a longitudinal case study methodology, the Contamination Lab at University of Salento (Lecce, Italy), the learning approaches and the knowledge process to create an entrepreneurial awareness, mindset and capability in students with different educational background are presented.

The findings demonstrates the crucial role of stakeholders' engagement for business idea presentation, open innovation challenge, contamination workshop on specialized topics, enterprise projects are important vehicle for effective students' business ideas and innovative projects development in a multidisciplinary environment. The close interaction among students, academia, companies and institutions creates a favourable environment that enables opportunity identification, idea generation through a deep contamination of knowledge, skills and experiences.

Limitations include the need to generalise the results even if this limitation is typical of the case study methodology. Other research is necessary for an in-depth analysis in deep of the other Contamination Lab in Italy and to derive the “invariance traits” of this environment according to the features of the local entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Implications for practices include recommendations for designing innovative programs where the interactions between University-Institutions-Industry are realized.

A conceptual framework is proposed by defining all the entrepreneurial knowledge process and knowledge creation within the Contamination Lab, highlighting the contribution of the stakeholders in each phase and learning initiative of the program.

This paper aims to critically review intellectual capital (IC) accounting research and practices in European public universities, specifically in Spain, Austria and Italy. These three countries represent the majority of IC accounting research related to universities.

This study critically reviews a selection of university-based IC accounting research, applying Alvesson and Deetz’s (2000) critical perspectives of insight, critique and transformative redefinition.

The analysis reveals that European public universities follow the Humboldtian model of higher education, integrating a third mission to society into their traditional roles as teaching and research institutions. This study explored how the emergence of a third mission for the university was conceptualised. This study also provided insights, critique and a transformative redefinition to advance IC as a strategic resource in European public universities.

The findings provide academics and policymakers with insights, critique and a transformative redefinition of IC as a strategic resource for European public universities to meet future challenges in an ever-changing world.

The paper aims to contribute to the Circular Economy debate from the Entrepreneurship Education perspective. Despite scholars' growing interest in both these research streams, scarce consideration is given to the comprehension of their mutual implications and meaning.

The paper is based on a cross-case analysis. It compares 16 higher education programmes launched by Universities in Europe aimed to create competences and skills for Circular Economy in students with different profiles. The analysis provides a critical view of the emerging trends for the entrepreneurship education skills and competencies needed for the emerging circular entrepreneurship paradigm.

The paper discusses the main trends of Entrepreneurship Education focused on Circular Economy debate at the European level: rationale and learning objectives (why); contents (what), target students and stakeholders (who) and the learning processes (how). Four thematic areas are identified as common patterns: circular economy business model, green supply chain management, technology entrepreneurship and innovation and public policies and institutional frameworks.

The paper sheds new light on a still under-researched area, suggesting several implications and avenues for future research in Circular Economy and Entrepreneurship Education. Limitations regard the need to analyse education programmes from a larger geographical area, to take into consideration interesting experiences in the rest of the world and to also collect quantitative data.

Practical implications arise for the development of learning initiatives for the Circular Economy: learning objectives and new thematic areas focused on circular, sustainable and innovative rethinking of the process for creating value in the incumbent companies; exploring meaning and benefits of collaborative approaches and participation in the circular economy innovation ecosystem and developing advanced models for soft-skills development in terms of leadership, motivational and creative skills.

The debate on CE can also be rooted in the paradigm of entrepreneurship as a core process to advance knowledge on valuable and sustainable innovation.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the main Intellectual Property (IP) protection strategies adopted in the R&D phases of a company operating in the bio-pharmaceutical industry, according to an open innovation (OI) approach.

In order to assess how R&D intensive firms adopt IP strategies during OI practices, this research uses a single case-study design. The case has been studied over an extended period of time (from 2008 to 2015), triangulating data and information by means of multiple interviews with different key informants and projects documents. The novelty of the research justifies the use of a single case study.

The study reveals how a mix of formal and informal tools for IP protection are used, with a final attempt to maintain control over different technological solutions during their validation process and profiting from stable R&D collaborations with research partners.

Limitations of the study relate to the single case study methodology as well as to some peculiarities of the analyzed company and of the Bio-Pharmaceutical industry.

Research managers could find some food for thought in the adoption of OI approaches for reducing costs and risks associated with technological uncertainty, with particular attention to the strategic role of IP rights.

Despite knowledge protection being widely recognized to be a critical issue for implementing OI approaches, how IP strategies should be used in the different phases of R&D is still debatable. Moreover, few empirical studies relate to the adoption of optimal combinations of IP tools in relation to the different R&D phases in such technology intensive industries as the bio-pharmaceutical industry.