The entrepreneurial university is regarded as an agent of societal change and an important instrument in the facilitation of the contemporary knowledge-based economy because it supports the generation and exploitation of knowledge through its three missions of education, research and academic entrepreneurship. Moreover, the entrepreneurial university boosts economic and social development by encouraging academic entrepreneurship among faculty members. Although research on the entrepreneurial university has increased considerably in recent years, there are as yet no conceptual syntheses of the literature and there is an absence of a holistic framework covering the range of factors required to promote academic entrepreneurship within the entrepreneurial university paradigm. This gap is addressed by identifying the determining factors in an entrepreneurial university and synthesizing them into an integrative framework, based on the corporate entrepreneurship research stream: the determining factors are divided into three groups – external, internal and strategic. This framework is based on a qualitative review of theoretical and empirical studies of entrepreneurial universities and an analysis of diverse frameworks and models. The paper thus provides a systematic overview that allows for consolidation of the literature on entrepreneurial universities, while drawing important implications from research and suggesting potential paths for future study.

This article presents a case study of the Cooperative University of Mondragon to explore the intricate processes through which higher education institutions (HEIs) adopt an entrepreneurial university (EU) framework across their three core missions: teaching, research, and community outreach. Using a qualitative research design, this study examines the organizational strategies that Mondragon University’s engineering faculty (MGEP) employs to embrace entrepreneurial behaviors (EBs), specifically by building on its peculiar cooperative governance model. The findings shed light on how MGEP, as a prominent example, leverages a long-term vision that centers its decision-making processes on entrepreneurship and the management tools and governance elements that favor collective participation and intrinsic motivation. This research advances our understanding of the evolving landscape of higher education and its entrepreneurial drift in the following ways: (1) by addressing the need for further exploration of governance in EUs; (2) by complementing existing studies on the role of university leadership in the adoption of EBs; and (3) by identifying strategies to overcome inherent barriers within large organizations that impede universities from being entrepreneurial. Overall, this study offers practical implications for the adoption of EBs in HEIs.

Cooperation between universities and business is manifest in a wide range of activities related to the three missions of the entrepreneurial university: education, research and entrepreneurship. However, the vast majority of University-Business Cooperation (UBC) literature has focused on R&D-related activities. This bias has given rise to a lack of knowledge of the organisational context-related factors that shape businesses’ cooperation with universities. In order to address this research gap, this quantitative study, by means of a series of multivariate linear regression models, identifies the organisational context-related factors that determine manufacturing SMEs’ cooperation levels in education-related UBC activities. Applying a questionnaire to a sample of 332 manufacturing SMEs located in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country (Spain), the impact is analysed of organisational context-related factors – general business characteristics, business openness, R&D, innovation, and UBC willingness and support – on 5 types of UBC activities that have been identified and classified in the field of education, namely, mobility of students, dual education, curriculum co-design, curriculum co-delivery and lifelong learning.

Universities have increasingly incorporated a third mission into their strategic planning. In addition to teaching and research, they have emphasised the training of entrepreneurs. However, there is still a lot of work to be done, as this process is facing resistance. The Entrepreneurial University covers all disciplines, including faculties of education. However, it has been shown that entrepreneurship tends to be more related to the faculties of economics and engineering, with a lesser presence in the faculties of education for various reasons: they consider entrepreneurship to be alien to their teaching role, there is a lack of entrepreneurial culture, and the objective of the Entrepreneurial University is unknown. The aim of this study is to analyse the level of entrepreneurship in Spanish faculties and schools of education. Nineteen deans and heads of education faculties in Spain took part in the survey, and a mixed analysis has been done. The results indicated a sufficient level of entrepreneurship; the dimensions related to active methodologies, and mission and strategy were the most developed, whereas entrepreneurship funding and entrepreneurship training for faculty employees were the least developed areas. Some deans noted that entrepreneurship was alien to their professional performance, although courses and good practices for the development of entrepreneurial initiative are gradually being implemented.

The future of regions must be built on human-scale competitiveness based on quality employment, sustainability (climate, digital, and demographic), knowledge and skills, new business projects focused on people, and equality between women and men. The achievement of this competitiveness requires cooperation among the Triple Helix, i.e., cooperation between companies, universities, and administration. However, as extant studies indicate, cooperation levels between universities and companies remain low. Therefore, the development of research projects and tools to foster this cooperation is necessary. As can be seen in the United Nations Sustainable Development 2030 Agenda, the challenges that the Triple Helix must face in the runup to 2030 are manifold. Given these multiple challenges and the limitation of existing resources, the identification of priorities is crucial in order to optimise resources, focus policies, and develop an agenda to guide cooperation. To this end, by conducting an exhaustive review of the literature, four focus group sessions with 24 participants and a quantitative questionnaire answered by 90 institutions, this study identifies the challenges that the Triple Helix of the Basque Country (Northern Spain) considers to be a priority for 2030 in order to ensure regional human-scale competitiveness. In accordance with the results of the study, eradicating gender-based violence, favouring the establishment of companies in the territory (incentives, legal measures, recognition, etc.), and developing alternative energy sources are some of the main priority challenges.