Innovative and creative entrepreneurship support services at universities

In the context of entrepreneurial universities, new stakeholders and new roles for old ones have emerged. Accordingly, university entrepreneurship support services have to behave in a creative and innovative manner to actively support business creation at universities. This means that a common framework is necessary that includes the different stakeholders and goals, which gives a clear picture of the process of entrepreneurship encouragement and business development support (EE&BDS). We present a model for knowledge transfer and company growth within the context of entrepreneurial universities. This alternative integrative approach of the different stakeholders, actors, activities, tools, goals, and needs helps us to arrange and manage them in a better way. Our analysis allows us to show the role and relationships among the different university stakeholders and how this integrative approach contributes to the enhancement of the EE&BDS process for this institution. © Springer-Verlag 2009