ABSTRACT
Structure of the chapter This chapter examines the range and breadth of interactions that universities as major institutions have with the wider economy. It locates these relationships in the context of the region in which HEIs are based. The dynamics of the local region inform the relationship with entrepreneurship. There are three strands to these dynamics:
• the varied contexts of learning, its history and its various changing forms, and what that means for universities in terms of their contribution to entrepreneurship and economic development;
• the specific local environment, the resources and the assets that universities have at their disposal for developing entrepreneurial activities; and
• the mechanisms and instruments that HEIs use to encourage entrepreneurship and support economic development including science parks, incubation centres and entrepreneurship education and training.
