The Open Innovation Imperative: Perspectives on Success From Faculty Entrepreneurs

Abstract

The Open Innovation Imperative: Perspectives on Success From Faculty Entrepreneurs University spinoffs are an important vehicle for the dissemination of new knowledge – and have the potential to generate jobs and economic growth. Despite their importance, little research exists on how, from the perspective of faculty entrepreneurs, spinoff success is defined – and the factors responsible for that success. Given the nascent nature of the literature and lack of data regarding university spinoffs, this dissertation employs a sequential exploratory strategy to understand and determine success factors for university spinoffs. The findings indicate that commercialization is a distinguishing characteristic of initial spinoff success and that a multitude of factors such as financial resources and the technology licensing process are responsible for that success. Using logit regression, the quantitative phase yields several significant predictors of commercialization including venture capital, multiple and external licenses, outside management, joint ventures with other companies, previous faculty consulting experience, and – surprisingly – a negative relationship to post-spinoff services provided by universities. These results strongly support an open innovation approach for spinoff success and have important implications for public policy. The results will be of especial interest to university leaders seeking to enhance the role of their institutions in economic development and for state and federal policymakers when developing new policies and programs to improve economic growth and entrepreneurship. Finally, the dissertation makes a modest but important contribution to the evolving Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship (KSTE).