Pathways towards the entrepreneurial university for creating entrepreneurial engineers: an Italian case

Abstract

Innovation and entrepreneurship are crucial processes for economic growth and regions' competitiveness. A key element to succeed in the entrepreneurial economy is the development of a new archetype of human capital, the 'entrepreneurial engineer', who is capable to match technology innovation with business challenges and societal development, assuring economical, technological and environmental sustainability. The development of such professionals requires to universities a deep reconfiguration towards the 'entrepreneurial university' model, by integrating research, education and innovation, and promoting public-private partnerships. Framed in these premises, and based on a longitudinal case study carried out within an Italian university, the paper proposes the principles, actors and processes that should characterise a higher education system engaged in experimenting the entrepreneurial university model. A set of guidelines is also provided to educators, professors and practitioners involved into the experimentation of innovative learning environments conducive for the development of entrepreneurial attitudes in engineering and technical profiles.