What is University-Based Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

Embedding entrepreneurship into the university mission and culture in developing countries is key to national economic growth and social development. Therefore, having a better understanding of university-based entrepreneurial ecosystems considered as benchmark cases is a good start to introduce to the topic. For such reason, the objective of this chapter is to describe the situation of the entrepreneurial ecosystem at Tecnologico de Monterrey in Guadalajara, Mexico, its leading actors and roles, and how they have been relevant to promote entrepreneurial initiatives among higher education students, alumni, and faculty members. Along with the case description and based on a previous study, the authors present a comparison of Tecnologico de Monterrey case with four universities' entrepreneurial ecosystems. Findings suggest that the strategy followed to promote university-based entrepreneurship depends on the internal capabilities of each institution and the capacity of the region to support it.