기업가정신은 현 경제체계의 문제점을 해결하는 대안으로 여러 국가들이 강조하고 있다. 특히 대학은 기업가적 경제(entrepreneurial economy)에서 매우 중요한 역할을 하고 있다. 대학은 연구 및 교육 기능을 넘어서 ‘자연적 인큐베이터 역할을 수행하며 경제적 가치 및 사회적 임팩트를 창출’하는 기업가적 대학(entrepreneurial university)로의 역할이 기대되고 있다. 기업가적 경제에서 대학의 중요성에 대해 많은 논의가 이루어진 것에 반해 기업가적 대학의 학문적 연구는 미비한 상황이다. 이에 본 연구는 기업가적 대학의 개념을 정리하고, 기업가적 대학을 설명할 수 있는 개념적 프레임워크를 제시하여 기업가적 대학에 대한 이해를 높이고자 하였다. 기업가적 대학을 설명할 수 있는 주요 구성요소로는 기업가정신 교육(entrepreneurial education), 경험적 교육(experiential learning), 벤처창업(venture companies), 외부협력요소(collaboration with stakeholder)로 도출되었다. 도출된 개념적 프레임워크의 구성요소에 기반하여 본 연구는 3개 대학을 대상으로 탐색적 비교사례연구를 실시하였다. 중요성에 비해 연구가 미진했던 기업가적 대학의 개념적 프레임워크를 제시하였다는 점에서 본 연구의 기여점을 찾을 수 있으며, 추후 기업가적 대학의 성과 평가에 대한 실증연구가 이루어질 수 있도록 기업가적 대학 관련 측정변수의 개발이 필요하다고 본다.
This paper develops a conceptual framework for the entrepreneurial university. The role of universities has changed over the last several decades from being viewed solely as academic learning centers to becoming engines of innovation for creativity to create new economic value and social impact, the basis for new companies and the next generation products, systems, and therapies upon such companies are based. Many universities have tried to transform themselves into more effective entrepreneurial engines. However, while there are numerous specific programs and initiatives having this intent, there is no higher level, integrative framework for University entrepreneurship ecosystem design to guide such efforts. Specific data are reported for two large Korean universities and one American institution. The two Korean universities has active entrepreneurship centers and receive considerable government funding. The American University is well-regarded for its entrepreneurship success, being the recipient of the 2020 award for Outstanding Contributions to Venture Creation Best Venture Creation by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers. The entrepreneurship university framework proposed here has four major dimensions. The first dimension is entrepreneurship education, providing specific innovation design and business planning methods for undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate participants. In addition to assessing the breadth and depth of classroom offerings programming, we assessed the specific and aggregated capabilities of the teaching faculty itself, as well student engagement in said programs. The second dimension is experiential learning, the degree to which universities provide work internships in dynamic venture companies, or, allow students to self-intern in their own startups with industry mentorship. Internship count, structure, and type are metrics here. The third major dimension is are the specific processes and funding provided by universities to incubate new companies, as measured not just by the number of startups, but participation rates throughout the University, the type of ventures (in terms of being technologically intensive, non-lifestyle ventures), and their sustained success. This third dimension also incorporates a University’s mentoring system to complement faculty and University staff. The fourth dimension encompasses the integration by the University in its regional entrepreneurship ecosystem and its various stakeholders. This includes the planned interactions and programs with adjacent accelerators, government agencies, and early-stage investors for the purpose of allowing University ventures to advance to the next level of startup, and then, scale up. Using a structured research instrument, we conducted in-depth data collection for specific data items within each of the four major dimensions in the higher-level framework. Using these data, we then compared the educational, experiential, and external programs of these universities, assessing each university’s strengths and weakness according to our framework. Then, in aggregate across the three Universities, we identified best practices for each of the four dimensions. While the primary purpose of this study is to provide an integrative framework for University-based entrepreneurship ecosystems, it also had a practical outcome. By contrasting their current approaches to observed best practices, University administrators could develop specific improvement plans for their respective entrepreneurship ecosystems.