Entrepreneurs in Academe: An Exploration of Behaviors Among Life Scientists

Abstract

A study explored entrepreneurship in theresearch university. The data were collected in 2 surveys conducted in 1985 -one of a sample of life scientists located in major research universities andthe other of key administrators in the same universities. Five types ofacademic entrepreneurship were identified: 1. engaging in externally fundedresearch, 2. earning supplemental income, 3. gaining industry support foruniversity research, 4. obtaining patents or generating trade secrets, and 5.forming or holding equity in private companies based on a faculty member's ownresearch. Individual attitudes and characteristics were the most importantpredictors of large-scale science and supplemental income, while local groupnorms played a more important role in predicting active involvement incommercialization. (Publisher abstract)