Exploring academic entrepreneurship: drivers and tensions of university‐based business

It is increasingly expected that universities, besides research and teaching, should perform a third task as regional engines of innovation and economic growth. This paper discusses the role transformation and its demands upon university and faculty, including academic entrepreneurship. The empirical part consists of an exploration of senior faculty’s thinking of the new situation, using cause maps about two key domains: university‐corporate cooperation for applied research and direct faculty entrepreneurship. Broadly, the expected root causes and conflicts emerge in the faculty’s thought patterns, but cause maps show and help analyse the subjective situation as a system. The paper concludes with discussing university policy implications and options for further research.