Abstract:

To respond to the requirements of the modern global economy, universities need to rethink their mode of operation and business models through monetizing their research results, creating knowledge-based enterprises, and equipping graduates with the necessary skills and capabilities required to be competitive in the current job market and face the evolving environment needs. Besides educating graduates and conducting research, a “Third Mission” for universities is defined which led to the emergence of the new concept “ Triple Helix” referring to the trio university, industry and government collaborating together while maintaining their independent identities and primary roles. This contributed to encouraging universities to turn into an entrepreneurial structure rather than being limited to the education and research-based structure. Innovation in universities is a multi-faceted aspect; it is multidimensional, spans various pillars and encompasses different facets that interact with each other.

Various attributes contribute to fostering innovation in universities, and in order to support its implementation, it is critical to understand the various factors that drive the success of this innovation. Innovative education is a topic of growing interest, yet there is a limitation in terms of the research conducted on the key influencing factors. Although a few researchers attempted to develop a list of criteria that lead to successful innovation in universities, there is still scarcity in terms of a comprehensive list of criteria that span all the implicated areas and impact the universities’ innovative journeys in all its aspects, directly or indirectly. Therefore, this research aims to identify a comprehensive list of the underpinning criteria that drive innovation in universities to help decision-makers instill innovative foundations in their corresponding institutions.

To address the objectives of the study, both literature review and experts validation have been adopted. In order to ensure comprehensiveness, the used literature to extract the various criteria is generated in a systematic way. This is followed by the aggregation and mapping of the identified criteria to various dimensions and the formation of thematic clusters. Finally, a validation phase has been conducted with experts in the field to come up with the final multidimensional list of factors. The results revealed eight main criteria related to innovation in universities which are human resource management practices, organizational culture, leadership and top management support, university strategic management, external collaboration, internal collaborative structure, availability of research resources, and educational practices. Besides that, thematic clusters grouping the related criteria are defined and the various elements of each criterion are identified. Finally, motivations and future research suggestions based on the identified factors are presented.

Keywords:

Innovation ecosystem, university, criteria, industry collaboration, entrepreneurship.