The role of academia is key in triggering entrepreneurship and innovation. In the last 20 years, universities attention towards the creation of new ventures or spinoffs and more generally towards entrepreneurship has increased. There are 4 main aspects that will determine the level of innovation of a university: 

• Personal factors, such as faculty motivations.
• Financial factors, such as the amount of money universities invest in research activities.
• Organisational factors, such as size, other characteristics like technology transfer offices and cultural factors. 
• Policy and ecosystem factors.

Everyone has been talking about spinoffs, but entrepreneurship education hasn’t been mentioned that much. For me, it’s one of the key pillars for developing an entrepreneurial culture within society in general.

It’s key to trigger entrepreneurial appetite of students. When students innovate, they motivate other professors and students to do the same.

We talk to María Zubeldia, Head of the Entrepreneurship Centre at the SAID Business School at Oxford University. We explore the role of academia in supporting and training entrepreneurs and in doing so, Maria shares the best practises that allow them to rapidly innovate in times of COVID-19. We also talk about the importance of developing a solid and diverse ecosystem and the key factors that entrepreneurs should consider throughout the current crisis.