How to build more engaged entrepreneurial and innovative universities: Four levers to cultural change
Why do external engagement, innovative and entrepreneurial activity still feel peripheral in so many universities, despite years of strategies, centres and programmes designed to support them?
This whitepaper argues that the central challenge is cultural. Universities do not become more engaged, innovative or entrepreneurial simply by building new structures. Change takes hold when engagement is understood, legitimised and embedded in the everyday culture of academic life.
Grounded in research, this whitepaper offers a practical framework for leaders and policymakers to understand cultural change as a strategic capability and identifies four levers through which universities can make external engagement, entrepreneurship and innovation part of mainstream academic life: (1) raising awareness, (2) enhancing communication, (3) aligning incentives and rewards, and (4) helping academics navigate the support environment. The analysis draws on a comprehensive cultural change research initiative, co-sponsored by the European Union, including focus groups with over 40 academics, 17 expert interviews, and over 50 case studies. It is further informed by insights from leaders at innovative universities as well as broader research on institutional culture and academic career progression.
We therefore make a simple case: universities that want stronger entrepreneurship, external engagement and innovation should focus on developing the cultural conditions that support these priorities as part of their innovation maturity journey. Culture is not an abstract idea. It is the set of values, practices and behaviours that determines whether these priorities become credible, legitimate and worth investing in — and ultimately whether change sticks.
Arno Meerman (author) is the CEO at UIIN.
Rimante Rusaite (author) is the R&D Projects Lead at UIIN and holds an MSc in Environmental Policy and BSc in Psychology. Dedicated to sustainability and innovations. She’s also a design thinking coach and systems thinking enthusiast.
