This paper investigated how universities facilitate the process of spin-off venture formation based on academic research. Building on a capability perspective, we add to the literature on university characteristics and resources by exploring how the university context impacts the entrepreneurial process. We based our study on two mid-range universities and followed the start-up process of four spin-off ventures.

Based on the results of our longitudinal study, we propose a set of three university capabilities that facilitate the venture-formation process: (1) creating new paths of action, (2) balancing both academic and commercial interests, and (3) integrating new resources. Each capability is particularly important for specific phases in the venturing process. Our findings suggest that these capabilities are dependent on prior spin-off experience and reside within several actors both inside and outside of the university.

Furthermore, universities with weaknesses in the identified areas can take strategic action to develop these capabilities to some degree.

Analysis of the academic programs and activities aimed to foster entrepreneurship in USA and EU, specially in Silicon Valley, Canary Islands and Madeira Islands cases, with the ultimate goal to propose recommendations in entrepreneurship and innovation.

Academic entrepreneurship by means of university spin-offs commercializes technological breakthroughs, which may otherwise remain unexploited. However, many universities face difficulties in creating spin-offs. This article adopts a science-based design approach to connect scholarly research with the pragmatics of effectively creating university spin-offs. This approach serves to link the practice of university spin-off creation, via design principles, to the scholarly knowledge in this area. As such, science-based design promotes the interplay between emergent and deliberate design processes. This framework is used to develop a set of design principles that are practice based as well as grounded in the existing body of research on university spin-offs. A case study of spin-off creation at a Dutch university illustrates the interplay between initial processes characterized by emergent design and the subsequent process that was more deliberate in nature. This case study also suggests there are two fundamentally different phases in building capacity for university spin-off creation. First, an infrastructure for spin-off creation (including a collaborative network of investors, managers and advisors) is developed that then enables support activities to individual spin-off ventures. This study concludes that to build and increase capacity for creating spin-offs, universities should do the following: (1) create university-wide awareness of entrepreneurship opportunities, stimulate the development of entrepreneurial ideas, and subsequently screen entrepreneurs and ideas by programs targeted at students and academic staff; (2) support start-up teams in composing and learning the right mix of venturing skills and knowledge by providing access to advice, coaching, and training; (3) help starters in obtaining access to resources and developing their social capital by creating a collaborative network organization of investors, managers, and advisors; (4) set clear and supportive rules and procedures that regulate the university spin-off process, enhance fair treatment of involved parties, and separate spin-off processes from academic research and teaching; and (5) shape a university culture that reinforces academic entrepreneurship by creating norms and exemplars that motivate entrepreneurial behavior. These and other results of this study illustrate how science-based design can connect scholarly research to the pragmatics of actually creating spin-offs in academic institutions.