ABSTRACT
Bringing new knowledge to market is increasingly recognized as the third mission of universities today. Accordingly, universities are seen as creators of new knowledge while being involved in contract research commissioned by the business sector, in collaborative research projects with business partners, in the licensing of patents, in the creation of spin-off firms, etc. (Shane 2004; van Geenhuizen and Nijkamp 2006; Huggins and Johnston 2009). In Europe, this new role of universities started to grow in the early 1980s (Charles and Howells 1992) and has now fully entered the research policy of modern universities (e.g. Rasmussen et al. 2006; Etzkowitz 2008; Hussler et al. 2010).
