A systemic perspective acknowledges the variety of inter-related actors and stakeholders in academic entrepreneurship, which refers to entrepreneurial activities carried out in academic institutions. In their newly published book, The New Movements in Academic Entrepreneurship, a group of international authors from Europe, North America and Asia suggest moving away from the understanding of academic entrepreneurs as atomistic individuals or even heroes. In the university ecosystem, the understanding of academic entrepreneurship is socially constructed in a web of diverse actors, varying interests, and multiple activities.
This starting point enabled the production of fresh insights of the nuances of academic entrepreneurship and challenged the single narrative often prevailing in the research literature and the media. The 15 chapters of the book offer new knowledge from the perspective of different university members—academic managers, faculty and staff, and students—and illustrates that several narratives of academic entrepreneurship may coexist in the university ecosystem.
The book provides evidence of how the idealized and restrictive ‘one-version-fits-all’ concept of academic entrepreneurship is not equally open to all members of academic communities. It also shows how moving away from the utopian and dystopian polarizations of the benefits and challenges of entrepreneurship can make room for acknowledging tensions, contradictions, and grey zones in this research area.
The New Movements in Academic Entrepreneurship (Edward Elgar 2021) book extends the boundaries of academic entrepreneurship by asking how academic managers in universities adopt and comply with entrepreneurship, how researchers engage in sensemaking concerning commercial activities, and how students negotiate identities as academic and entrepreneurial actors.
The book is edited by the researchers of the Academic entrepreneurship as a social process research consortium funded by the Academy of Finland (2016–2020) led by Professor Päivi Eriksson.
Further information about the book on website: Eriksson, P., Hytti, U., Komulainen, K., Montonen, T., Siivonen, P. (eds.) (2021) New Movements in Academic Entrepreneurship, Edward Elgar. https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781800370128/9781800370128.xml
