How can universities enable student-driven valorisation? An evidence-based approach

Entrepreneurial universities are expected to support the development of knowledge-based economies. For this to happen, knowledge and technologies need to be transferred from the university to society, where they will generate economic and/or societal value. Academic research and policy reports have largely focused on how universities can valorise research results, with academics as the valorising actors, and patenting, business incubation and academic consultancy as measures to enable valorisation. However, little attention has been paid to the measures enabling valorisation from actions that are led by students. In this study, we review the existing body of empirical knowledge about how a university can enable knowledge and technology valorisation, translate findings to the context of student-driven valorisation, and identify the enabling measures that are specific to this context. Consequently, we propose a design of a system whose purpose is to enable student-driven valorisation. Two key implications of this design are that (1) enabling student-driven valorisation requires the implementation of interventions that valorise knowledge and technology emerging from research, from education and from a combination of both research and education, as opposed to just research; and that (2) enabling academic-driven education valorisation has a positive effect on enabling student-driven education valorisation. The practical aim of our study is to empower universities to enable student-driven valorisation and thus boost their creation of economic and societal value. This would enable universities to better contribute and to be more active in the development of knowledge-based economies.