Academic spinoffs: the role of entrepreneurship education

Abstract

New ventures depend on the capability of entrepreneurs to transform an idea or a technology into a successful company. The literature on entrepreneurship has recognized that Entrepreneurship Education (EE) plays a key role in this process, but the literature on academic spinoffs has focused on other determinants (e.g., Technology Transfer Offices - TTO, and university research expenditures). This research investigates the role of EE in the creation of academic spinoffs by using a new dataset built around 1262 entrepreneurship courses offered between 2011 and 2014 by 80 US universities included in the Licensing Survey by the Association of University Technology Managers - AUTM). Adopting a Poisson panel regression model, we show that, in addition to TTO size and university research expenditures, EE favours the creation of academic spinoffs. Moreover, we find that practical – rather than theoretical - entrepreneurship courses favour the creation of academic spinoffs. We conclude discussing the theoretical and practical implications for universities, students and scholars interested in entrepreneurship.