Abstract

When people talks about research, development and technology transfer (RTD in short) and commercial industrial activities, it is quite usual to mix up objectives, resources and responsibilities. There is a growing opinion, spread by some public administrators and the media, that research groups at universities and RTD centers must be "profitable". In few words, many persons would wish that research is funded with competitive funds or even loans (either public or private) and that the outcomes of the research get into the market rapidly, so that the profits from marketing the corresponding products will allow research groups to be financially self-sustaining.

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Relevance. The role of universities in contemporary social and economic systems of various countries is undergoing significant changes and involves the actualization of approaches to defining the functions of educational organizations. At the same time, university startups are viewed as the most dynamic elements of regional economies, capable of creating export-oriented science-intensive products and new high-tech jobs. The transformation and development of regional entrepreneurial ecosystems using universities as a trigger for academic entrepreneurship involves the stimulation by the authorities of the constituent entities of the federation of the start-ups establishment process by universities in cooperation with local or global enterprises of the real sector of the economy. The objective of this study is to analyze the factors that stimulate academic technological entrepreneurship, as well as barriers that impede the implementation of business ideas of university employees and students, related, inter alia, to the commercialization of the results of intellectual activity (RIAs). The subject of study is the individual elements of entrepreneurial ecosystems and the degree of their influence on the acceleration of the technological development of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The study used general scientific analytical methods (case study, content analysis, comparative analysis). The sources of information were Russian and foreign scientific publications, official data of state authorities, the Bloomberg Terminal analytical system. Based on the results of the study, an overview of foreign practice of stimulating academic entrepreneurship is presented, key factors that determine the productivity of startup ecosystems of the world's leading universities and critical barriers that hinder the development of domestic technological entrepreneurial ecosystems are highlighted. The conducted study allows us to draw the following conclusions. In the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, it is not possible to find the entire set of basic factors that contribute to the involvement of RIAs created at the local universities into the regional economy, as well as the inclusion of startups founded by graduates or employees of universities in the horizontal network interaction. Critical barriers to the development of technological ecosystems include the following. There are no universities in the regions demonstrating global academic leadership (excellence). Academic entrepreneurship in regional universities of Russia is not institutionalized. Regional and national support for academic entrepreneurship does not include such an important element as creating a market for innovative university products at the regional, national and international levels. Universities have not created sufficient inter-university and intra-university venture and endowment funds, which causes a shortage of seed investments in technology projects developed on the basis of universities. Academic entrepreneurship is not facilitated by the structure of the existing body of young researchers, dominated by bachelors, while masters and graduate students only make up a small share of researchers. The low level of financial support for graduate students forces 90% of them to combine research activities with labor, and 80% of working graduate students find work outside the university, depriving the young researchers’ scientific and technological activities of a systemic nature. Most regional domestic universities still do not have an effective technology transfer system as a tool for harmonizing the interests of the authors of technical solutions and the university. The scientific novelty of the study is due to the proposed broad approach to the creation of legal conditions supporting deeper involvement of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and business in the management of universities and in the implementation of development programs. The study substantiates the need to radically relax legal regulation, control and supervisory activities in relation to universities and to enshrine in law the right to risk for those ready to implement ambitious development projects. It is shown that direct support of promising teams at universities requires more autonomy for educational and scientific departments of the universities, including the right of separation, and targeted grant support to world-class teams with the right to move to another university, which would involve a radical revision of the role and functions of the rectors and Boards of Directors of the Universities. The authors emphasize the need to change approaches to the management of the property complex of universities; review the approaches to mergers and acquisitions of universities and scientific organizations in order to fundamentally transform the university management system and open it to beneficiaries. The recommendations for accelerating the institutional transformation of regional universities in Russia into entrepreneurial universities and the formation of university ecosystems include using a set of measures aimed at solving the problem of attracting seed funding for student startups; transforming the university management systems and opening them to beneficiaries; building the students’ educational paths depending on the needs of the founding student's startup; creating a network of university technology transfer centers; reforming the graduate school and creating a favorable environment for technological creativity.

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