Abstract:

In several countries, policies to support innovation and entrepreneurship are based on a number of priorities and lines of action: industrial development, access to finance, promotion of innovation and eco-sports, and improvement of the business environment. At the same time, there is an emphasis on a national research and innovation strategy for transforming the economy towards higher value-added and greater resource efficiency, which involves independently identifying the benefits of wood productivity, choosing strategic priorities and designing policy instruments that maximise the country's knowledge-based development potential and contribute to sustainable economic development. The triple helix of university-industry-government interactions has been widely adopted in research on innovation and entrepreneurship, emphasising the enhanced role of universities in the transition to a knowledge society and in the innovation generation.

Such considerations imply that entrepreneurial learning and innovation skills should be given an increasingly important role and prominence in universities. It is widely recognised that the most widely used method for teaching entrepreneurship is the use of incubators or 'innovation ecosystems'. This approach relies on the ability of many interrelated actors - governments, civil society, the private sector, universities, individual entrepreneurs and others - to work together effectively. Innovative ideas also require the coordinated, collective action and resources of these actors, collectively referred to as the 'innovation ecosystem', to be effectively generated, developed, tested and ultimately scaled up for development impact. Research on such ecosystems is therefore needed to enable more effective application and evaluation of entrepreneurship and innovation education in universities.

Aim of the study:
To explore and evaluate entrepreneurship and innovation education through a university business incubator. Study objectives: to describe the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem at the university; to evaluate the contribution of the incubator to entrepreneurship and innovation education. Methods used in the study: logical-constructive, data analysis, mathematical-statistical.

The research has resulted in a characterisation of the university's innovation ecosystem, which can be used to promote entrepreneurship and innovation education by involving several ecosystem actors - industry representatives, entrepreneurs, local governments, and communities.

Keywords:

University incubator, innovation ecosystem, teaching entrepreneurship.