Cross-fertilizing effects found in dual roles for academic entrepreneurs

Academic entrepreneurs — scientists who found research-based startups while remaining in academia — creatively find cross-fertilizing effects between their academic and entrepreneurial work, helping them to reevaluate and extend their professional identity, according to new research published in Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. The findings suggest that supporting academic entrepreneurship goes beyond funding or IP policies: Universities, incubators, and policymakers can help by acknowledging the practical identity work involved and by creating flexible environments that give scientists the opportunity to integrate their academic and entrepreneurship roles in meaningful ways.

The study grew from work that Marouane Bousfiha, of University of Gothenburg, and Henrik Berglund, of Chalmers University of Technology, had done with academic scientists to identify and develop commercially viable products and services based on the scientists’ research.

“We repeatedly noticed that most scientists managed to combine being a deeply committed academic with being a for-profit entrepreneur,” Bousfiha says, noting that scientific literature has historically taken the position that academic and entrepreneurial identities are inherently in conflict. “[T]his inspired us to systematically study how academic entrepreneurs manage their dual identities.”

Academic entrepreneurship is on the rise, Bousfiha says, as universities across the globe support entrepreneurial strategies and encourage researchers to turn their findings into practical, real-world offerings, reflecting a broader push for universities to drive innovation and economic development. However, the prevailing assumption has been that academic entrepreneurs face conflicting and disparate demands on their professional identities as their dual roles have very different norms and practices.

Bousfiha and Berglund’s research explored how academic entrepreneurs construct and sustain their professional identities while frequently transitioning between academic and entrepreneurial activities. With little prior research on the topic, the authors conducted exploratory qualitative interviews with 27 Swedish academics who were active in both academia and startups that commercialize their research. They focused specifically on how these professionals practically manage and make sense of their roles.

“These individuals were ideal for our purpose because they were engaged in frequent and temporary shifts — what we call micro-transitions — between two professional spheres, science and business, that differ sharply in values, routines, and expectations,” Bousfiha says.

The study authors found that the academic entrepreneurs they interviewed didn’t talk about their professional identities as something ​to be reconciled in the abstract. Rather, they spoke about what they did, including the situations, tools, and artifacts they worked with. When looking deeper ​at how their identities related to their concrete character of work, several respondents described how their ability to build a successful lab was a valuable skill for building their startup. The academic entrepreneurs also discussed how attracting research funding was similar to pitching venture capitalists, and how their startup experience provided a practical authority in the classroom.

“We also found that concrete artifacts carried meanings in both domains,” Bousfiha says. “Commercial applications would thus generate new research ideas, and scientific publications not only advanced science but also increased customer confidence. It was in such concrete tasks and artifacts that their professional identities were forged.”

Unlike prior research, the study showed that academic entrepreneurs didn’t prioritize their academic identities over their entrepreneurial ones. Instead, these professionals distinguished between tasks that were intellectually engaging and aligned with their expertise, and tasks that were more routine or administrative.

“Activities such as grading or managing payroll were gladly delegated, while responsibilities like setting technology roadmaps, forming partnerships, or securing funding were seen as natural parts of their professional identity,” Bousfiha says. “Their sense of coherence clearly came from engaging in work they found meaningful, in both roles, rather than from maintaining strict boundaries between them.”

In the interviews, Bousfiha and Berglund found that a great source of anxiety for the respondents was around what is appropriate and encouraged. For universities, incubators, and policymakers to better support academic entrepreneurs, the study authors recommend offering flexible environments that allow scientists to integrate both their roles in meaningful ways. That could include clearer guidelines for dual affiliations, the use of university resources, and incentives that recognize and reward entrepreneurial engagement alongside academic work.

“The aim should not be to remove all tension, but to make the relationship clear and productive so that academics can pursue both science and entrepreneurship in productive ways,” Bousfiha says.

To read the full context of the study and its methods, access the full paper available in the Strategic Management Journal.

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