Applied Geography for the Entrepreneurial University

Declines in public support for universities throughout the world have prompted university administrators and those who articulate and implement educational policy to seek alternative modes for funding. One favorite model is the ‘entrepreneurial university’ – a university that is managed using modern business practices including the willingness to participate in the commercialization of the intellectual property that it produces. A related notion is that of the ‘entrepreneurial professor’ – a person who is willing to explore new commercial markets for his/her intellectual outputs.  Both raise issues of propriety and conflict of interest but both also raise exciting opportunities for disciplinary engagement with the “real” world.

Although this concept for commercialization and partnerships with the worlds of business and government are not always appreciated or embraced, they are more common in the natural sciences, engineering and medicine. These practices are less well accepted by social sciences and humanities faculties.