TY - CHAP

T1 - The under-researched role of alumni spinoff entrepreneurs in upgrading a university’s entrepreneurial support structure

T2 - Essential ingredient or just a decorative accessory

AU - Sternberg, Rolf

AU - Vorderwülbecke, Arne

N1 - Acknowledgements: This work was prepared in the context of the research project ‘University spin-offs in Lower Saxony and their regional economic impact: empirical evidence from Hannover and Göttingen’. The project was funded by the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony (grant no. AZ. 76202-17-5/09). Our special thanks go to our research team member Nora Hesse as well as the interviewees for sharing their experiences and insights. Furthermore, we would like to thank Christoph Alfken as well as the participants at the 11th Annual Interdisciplinary European Conference on Entrepreneurship Research (IECER) 2013 in Brescia, Italy, as well as the 53rd ERSA Congress 2013 in Palermo, Italy, for their valuable comments on an earlier draft.

PY - 2019/12/13

Y1 - 2019/12/13

N2 - University spin-off formation can impact local economic growth. This paper addresses the contribution to a university's entrepreneurial support structure by individuals who started a company out of a university. If this contribution is sustainable enough, it may induce a self-amplifying process by which the university's entrepreneurial support-structure is continuously upgraded. Based on a qualitative case study of Leibniz University Hannover, including expert interviews and an in-depth document analyses, it is shown that alumni spin-off entrepreneurs indeed play an important role for a university's entrepreneurial support structure. However, the empirical findings indicate to a differentiation in respect of the nature of such a contribution. While it is an essential ingredient for the realization of particular support measures, it is only a decorative accessory for the evolution of such a structure. The contribution of alumni spin-off entrepreneurs to the upgrade of a university's entrepreneurial support structure leads to the named self-amplifying process.

AB - University spin-off formation can impact local economic growth. This paper addresses the contribution to a university's entrepreneurial support structure by individuals who started a company out of a university. If this contribution is sustainable enough, it may induce a self-amplifying process by which the university's entrepreneurial support-structure is continuously upgraded. Based on a qualitative case study of Leibniz University Hannover, including expert interviews and an in-depth document analyses, it is shown that alumni spin-off entrepreneurs indeed play an important role for a university's entrepreneurial support structure. However, the empirical findings indicate to a differentiation in respect of the nature of such a contribution. While it is an essential ingredient for the realization of particular support measures, it is only a decorative accessory for the evolution of such a structure. The contribution of alumni spin-off entrepreneurs to the upgrade of a university's entrepreneurial support structure leads to the named self-amplifying process.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087727714&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.4337/9781784715717.00017

DO - 10.4337/9781784715717.00017

M3 - Contribution to book/anthology

AN - SCOPUS:85087727714

SN - 9781784715700

SP - 166

EP - 191

BT - Handbook of Universities and Regional Development

PB - Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

ER -