From an Entrepreneurial University to a Sustainable Entrepreneurial University: Conceptualization and Evidence in the Contexts of European University Reforms

Both the transformation from innovation systems to innovation ecosystems and university reforms in such a context require a renewed understanding of the nature of universities and their roles in society. While the recent flourishing concepts about new models of universities suggest that the notion of an entrepreneurial university needs to be replaced by a more suitable concept to capture the unprecedented changes in universities in the societal transformation, the features of a new model of university described by these concepts can hardly fit into a consistent framework. This paper responds to this research gap by integrating both conceptual and empirical literature about the transformations or reforms of universities, mainly in the European context. Our major research findings are as follows. First, we identified characteristics of an ideal-type university in innovation ecosystems, named a sustainable entrepreneurial university (SEU), in comparison with those of an entrepreneurial university. Second, we elaborated on three emerging roles of the SEU in innovation ecosystems. Third, we found that while a transition from entrepreneurial universities to SEUs can be seen in European university reforms, the paces of the transformations vary. At the end of the paper, we discuss the scholarly and policy implications of our research findings.