This paper discusses challenges of developing entrepreneurial universities and their
crucial role in building intellectual capital of the nation. Entrepreneurial universities
position themselves not only as academic institutions of knowledge “transfer” but also as a
generating system for social networks with higher levels of national and social capital that
can solve complex intellectual tasks that have a direct impact on the real world. This feature
can be implemented and continued through giving university graduates an opportunity to
learn to solve applied research problems in their corresponding fields of study. From this
perspective, the entrepreneurial university should sustain practice of formation of different
research schools, uniting graduates not only by a certain body of knowledge but by research
and development of schools outside the university as a social network. Entrepreneurial
universities may become an important element of industrial clusters, overcoming the lack
of financial resources and promoting the development of regions in which they operate.