Role of Entrepreneurial Universities, Research Centers and Economic Zones in Driving Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Cluster Ecosystems

Abstract

Economic zones are recognized as contributors of entrepreneurship and innovation and key elements of national development strategy. This paper empirically evaluates and answers questions like - is there an impact of entrepreneurial universities and research centers on the performance of clusters? why and how this happens? do economic zones affect cluster outputs to the host economy? can there be enhancement of entrepreneurship and innovation in clusters if economic zones are bundled along with entrepreneurial universities and research centers? This study builds up on the dataset of top-100 clusters of innovation, presented by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), refining it and adding five socio-economic output indicators, testing for three independent variables (entrepreneurial universities, research centers and economic zones) to reveal, quantify the relationships and evaluate the impact of these variables on cluster performance. The results show there is a strong effect of all three independent variables but with varying degrees on different socio-economic output indicators, implying that a hybrid or collaborative mod-el with entrepreneurial universities, research centers and economic zones will be the most emphatic alliance to deliver the socio-economic benefits expected out of clusters.

Keywords: Entrepreneurial University, Economic Zones, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Economic Development, Strategy Management

JEL Classification: A20, F18, O18, O19, O31, L26, L52, L53