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Publicatie

University Research Centers as Catalyzers in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Fostering the Transitions towards Sustainable Business Models via the University-Business Interface

Boekbijdrage - Hoofdstuk

University research centres on sustainable entrepreneurship are uniquely positioned to serve as catalysts between knowledge generated during real-world experiences of corporate sustainability and the further theorization about these business model transitions (academic knowledge generation). University–business interfaces around a shared value (i.e. sustainable transitions) could contribute to increased coherence in an entrepreneurial ecosystem, which would help strengthen the system (Roundy, Brockman & Bradshaw, 2017). Being able to distill transmittable learning from real-world experience is necessary for fostering the transformation towards sustainability, “Knowledge, experience, and information-processing are the foremost resources determining how aims of actions are set; how situations, opportunities, and risks are assessed; and how constellations, cues, and patterns are interpreted” (Meusburger, Werlen & Suarsana, 2017: 2). Vice versa, universities’ research centres with strong connections to the real world, that is, government, industry, civil society and an understanding of the environmental boundaries, coupled with a regional focus (e.g. the regional Helix model; Farinha, Santos, Ferreira & Ranga, 2020), are perfectly positioned to act as a catalyst of change. In this chapter, we will describe how a research centre for sustainable entrepreneurship’s unique positioning at the interface of theoretical advances in sustainable business models and real-world implementation of sustainable business models help foster sustainable transitions in business and yields critical insights for future innovations of these models. We first offer the reader an introduction to the litera ture on sustainable business models. Then we highlight an illustrative case of a university–business collaboration to describe how such collaboration helps close the knowledge–action gap, and in turn provide insights to further refine sustainable business model theorization.
Boek: The Role of Universities and Their Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Advocating Sustainability
Pagina's: 199 - 213
ISBN:9783110670165
Jaar van publicatie:2022