ITALIAN AND BRAZILIAN HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPORT FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP: SOME EVIDENCE FROM A COMPARATIVE STUDY

During the last twenty years various entrepreneurship education initiatives increased aimed at training qualified professionals capable of promoting entrepreneurship projects, processes and products have been implemented by Higher Education Institutions (HEI). These initiatives are generally centred around incubators and accelerators, providing support for spin-offs and start-ups. University incubators and accelerators enable spin-offs and start-ups to access knowledge (e.g. research groups and databases) and specialised resources (e.g. technologies) within HEIs’ ecosystems. It is important to note that this development in the Higher Education sector occurred due to a necessity for creating opportunities for financial sustainability as well as more interaction with other key actors, namely business and government, to transform and improve society. The research question of this specific study is: What kind of support is available in Higher Education Institutions for the development of entrepreneurship in the form of star-ups and spin-offs?