ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEM AT UNIVERSITIES: FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

This paper examines issues of developing an entrepreneurial ecosystem at higher education institutions in the context of Kazakhstan. Authors consider the entrepreneurial university as a system that has its own infrastructure and is an integral part of the ecosystem as a whole. State and businesses are active participants of entrepreneurial ecosystem’s formation process at university. Despite the fact that many studies (Röpke, 1998; Clark, 1998; Etzkowitz & Leydesdorff, 2008) focus on the problems of formation and development of entrepreneurial ecosystem and its infrastructure, there is no universally recognized definition of the term “entrepreneurial ecosystem”. In Kazakhstan, the formation of entrepreneurial ecosystem is at its early stage. This paper discusses problems related to the underdeveloped entrepreneurial ecosystem and defines main reasons that hamper the development of entrepreneurial universities as part of the ecosystem.