Abstract
Abstract : With the growing unemployment rate as well as decline of entrepreneurial ventures in South Africa, alternative ways need to be investigated to increase entrepreneurship efforts and increase employment opportunity. Publicly funded universities throughout South Africa develop innovations as part of research outputs that through further development and refinement could be commercialised. Not many of these researchers or academics are entrepreneurially inclined and usually obtain the assistance of the Technology Transfer Office (TTO) for assistance in driving innovation to a commercial conclusion. However, human resources within these Technology Transfer Offices do not necessarily have the required entrepreneurial skills or work force to successfully push these innovations to the market. At the same time, students throughout South Africa have the opportunity to study entrepreneurship through modules, degrees and short courses, yet do not always have access to good business ideas or get the exposure to apply the theory practically while getting expert guidance. It is against this background that the study was undertaken with the aim to address the possibility of successfully commercialising university innovations through interdisciplinary collaborations between innovators and entrepreneurs. The study examined publicly funded universities in South Africa as the population and utilised qualitative methods such as semi-structured interviews and case studies. Respondents working in Technology Transfer Offices at these institutions were requested to share retrospective specific details regarding a commercialised innovation. From the information obtained of the participating institutions, the objectives were addressed to include the success factors contributing to collaborations between innovators and entrepreneurs, hindrances affecting these collaborations, factors that encourage working together, specific requirements needed to encourage these interdisciplinary collaborations as well as considerations to be taken into thought in expanding the teaching of entrepreneurship at universities.
M.Com. (Business Management)