How Universities Can Unlock Their Entrepreneurial Potential

Universities do more than teach and conduct research—they’re where some of the most daring ideas are sparked, eventually making their way into the private sector and our daily lives. Consider Stanford and UC Berkeley, which have become symbols of how universities can drive innovation.

The symbolic interaction between Stanford professor Frederick Terman, Bill Hewlett, and Dave Packard not only led to the HP success story in Hewlett and Packard’s garage, but also to the very idea of science parks. Silicon Valley emerged as a reference point for the symbiotic development of an innovation-focused ecosystem through its interactions with Stanford and UC Berkeley. Today, corporations such as aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, Tesla Motors, smart-home maker Nest Labs, software company NVidia, Apple, and Google have headquarters and research centers around Palo Alto, a dream destination for innovation professionals. It was there that personal computers were born. And it remains a major research center for artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

France is still lagging behind

In France, public authorities have long supported universities in expanding their role beyond education and research. The “third mission” of universities encompasses all activities undertaken to impact society or transform basic research into innovation. The French government recently reinforced these efforts with the creation of University Innovation Poles (PUIs), investing €166 million to create 25 PUIs by 2023. However, unleashing the full potential of universities in local innovation ecosystems requires a major strategic shift, and universities need to rethink the way they operate.

Our research, funded by the Deeptech division of Bpifrance (the French agency responsible for financing innovation-related investments), shows that activities aimed at developing economic and social impact are most often by-products mandated in response to calls for tenders for education or research issued by national and European public authorities. It turns out that the “third mission” of universities results in the accumulation of opportunistic projects that do not build a strategy or take the university’s place centrally in the dynamics of the ecosystem. Our research has identified the main problems to be solved and the key success factors.

If we want to unleash the innovation potential of universities, we will have to go beyond the old reflex of improving the culture and organization in research labs or launching new training programs. Becoming an entrepreneurial university requires deploying all the resources of a university – human, technological and physical – towards innovation. In France, there is still work to be done.

Problems to solve and potential solutions

First, universities need physical spaces that are in line with the rapid pace of innovation. The “third mission” needs totem spaces dedicated to innovation, suitable for events promoting startups and new technologies or meetings to discuss new solutions that change life in society. Totem spaces must offer areas for interaction between scientists and practitioners and coworking spaces for startups. Places like the SMART building of the University of Bordeaux show what is possible and how important it is to organize all these functions in the same facilities that are easily identified in the business and research community. Similar projects are being developed by the fab labs at the University of Cergy Pontoise. They open up opportunities for collaboration between students, researchers and civil society.

To foster innovation, universities must break free from traditional ways of working. Encouraging collaboration across disciplines is key to fostering student entrepreneurship. Coordinating course schedules will prove painful, but a lack of cross-fertilization among students can stifle student-led ventures. Students and faculty members face a long list of practical challenges when trying to develop incubation activities or organize hackathons.

Another challenge is staffing. Universities need skilled professionals to manage incubation programs, run innovation centers, and interact with the local business ecosystem. All of these roles could ultimately be assigned to traditional faculty members, but they are genuine management skills that should be filled by specialists. These roles do not fit into the standard HR management patterns that are embedded in research or education. Universities do not know how to pay salaries that are in line with market standards or cannot offer long-term contracts that ensure continuity of service. This is true for engineers supporting the use of technology platforms: salaries are most often funded by short-term educational or research grants (two to five years). Similar difficulties occur for business developers seeking to disseminate research and technology projects. These roles are essential elements of the “third mission,” but positions are hard to fill and even harder to retain.

Finally, universities need to encourage faculty members to participate in innovation initiatives. This includes creating start-ups and mentoring student entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, these activities are not always valued in academic careers. In France and many other European countries, individual performance assessments focus on lectures, administrative duties and publication history in peer-reviewed journals, with no credit given for contributions to the “third mission.” This change in assessments could be implemented by local universities or imposed by national authorities, but it is a key success factor for scaling up.

Read more: Les Tiers Lieux définissent-ils des ambiances ou des espaces? À qui profite la confusion?

Go local

Local university resources need to be tailored to the strengths and weaknesses of local business and innovation ecosystems. Take, for example, the Université Grenoble Alpes, which runs Biopolis, a biotechnology hub. Its location near research labs makes it an ideal fit for the region, but replicating this in other areas, such as Bordeaux, where similar facilities already exist, would be redundant. Universities need to diversify their activities according to the dynamics of each local ecosystem and existing infrastructure, and offer services that do not yet exist locally.

The university strategy circuit needs to adapt its roadmap to local needs, rather than adopting a “one size fits all” approach. While some ecosystems may focus on services for deep tech startups, others may require technology platforms or services tailored to small businesses. Universities such as Cercy Pontoise are already pioneering such initiatives.

For these strategies to work, universities need to work with local stakeholders – businesses, associations and public authorities.

In Grenoble, for example, although Biopolis is operated by the Université Grenoble Alpes, part of the site is used as an exchange centre and showroom run by the MedicAlps cluster, which specialises in the medical technology sector in the region.

Risk of spreading yourself too thin

French universities are not uniformly equipped. They show real dynamism thanks to numerous initiatives supporting entrepreneurship, but they currently encounter a kind of glass ceiling: currently less than 10% of students participate in entrepreneurship programmes.

Every university has the potential to become a central force in its ecosystem. A successful “third mission” does not require the entire Stanford-Berkeley model to be replicated everywhere. The French vision still promotes the idea of generalist universities in every region, small or large. Spreading resources too thinly and trying to do too much everywhere leads to dilution of influence. Instead, universities should focus on areas where they can make a real difference, scaling up local initiatives and aligning with the specializations of the local ecosystem.

To achieve the scale and impact needed to succeed, French universities need to avoid dispersing resources, streamline administrative processes, broaden the criteria by which faculty performance is assessed, and focus efforts and budgets on specialist areas of research.