[en] The university is an institution with a long history and, over the course of the centuries, it has gone through several stages in its development (Martinelli et al., 2008). While initially conceived as an institution with a teaching 'mission', the university later adopted a knowledge generation function (research). In recent years, the idea has emerged that the university is assuming a 'third mission', contributing to society and economic development more directly; turning the university into an Entrepreneurial University. But, what constitutes this Entrepreneurial University? There are several views on what constitutes an Entrepreneurial University, but there is still a lack of agreement about its core components (Rothaermel et al., 2007, Guerrero and Urbano, 2010). Indeed, in the last years, the domain Entrepreneurial University has received increased attention from scholars (O'Shea et al., 2004, Guerrero et al., 2011). In particular, there are some theoretical models, e.g. Clark (1998), Sporn (2001), Etzkowitz (2004), O'Shea et al. (2007), Peterka (2008), Guerrero and Urbano (2010), Salamzadeh et al. (2011), Gibb (2012), European Commission (2012) and Mavi (2014), which are focused on the explanation of the Entrepreneurial University phenomenon. However, little is known about the factors that contribute to the emergence of these Entrepreneurial University (Rothaermel et al., 2007, Guerrero et al., 2011). Moreover, there is a lack of empirical studies which analyse the influence of these factors (Yusof et al., 2012), offering a great opportunity to make important contributions in this field. Thus, the main purpose of this research was to develop an empirical-institutional analysis of the factors that affects the Entrepreneurial University. That for, an Entrepreneurial University model was developed and empirically tested; analysing the influence of external environment factors, internal organisation factors and entrepreneurship support mechanisms on Entrepreneurial University's results. With this objective in mind, this research study adopted a quantitative approach. Besides, the research strategy was based on a self-devised survey and the unit of analysis was the university itself; specifically, European universities that were fostering universities' third mission, the economic and social development.

[eu] Unibertsitatea historia luzea duen erakunde bat da, zeinek mendeetan zehar hainbat fase ezberdin izan dituen (Martinelli et al., 2008). Hasieran batetan irakaskuntza "misio" bakar bezala izan bazuen ere, geroago unibertsitateak jakintza sortzeko (ikerketako) rola hartu zuen; "bigarren misio" bezala. Gainera, azken urteetan, unibertsitate honek "hirugarren misio" bat garatu du, gizarte eta garapen ekonomikoan zuzenean laguntzea; Unibertsitate Ekintzaile batetan bilakatuz. Baina zerk osatzen du Unibertsitate Ekintzaile hau? Badira Unibertsitate Ekintzaile batean ikuspegi ezberdinak, baina ez dago adostasunik bere osagai nagusien inguruan (Rothaermel et al., 2007, Guerrero and Urbano, 2010). Izan ere, azken urteotan, Unibertsitate Ekintzaileak arreta handia jaso du ikertzaileen aldetik (O'Shea et al., 2004, Guerrero et al., 2011). Hain zuzen ere, eredu teoriko batzuk garatu dira, besteak beste Clark (1998), Sporn (2001), Etzkowitz (2004), O'Shea et al. (2007), Peterka (2008), Guerrero and Urbano (2010), Salamzadeh et al. (2011), Gibb (2012), European Commission (2012) eta Mavi (2014). Hala ere, oraindik gutxi aztertu da unibertsitate honen sorreran laguntzen duten faktoreen ezagutzaren inguruan (Rothaermel et al., 2007, Guerrero et al., 2011). Ikerketa enpirikoen eza ageri da faktore horien eraginen inguruan, arlo honetan ekarpen garrantzitsuak egiteko aukera handi bat eskainiz. Beraz, ikerketa honen helburu nagusia Unibertsitate Ekintzaile baten eragiten duten faktoreen azterketa enpiriko-instituzionala egitean datza. Horretarako, Unibertsitate Ekintzaile eredu bat garatu eta enpirikoki egiaztatu da; non unibertsitatearen kanpoko inguruneak, unibertsitatearen barruko ezaugarriek eta ekintzailetza bultzatzeko mekanismoek Unibertsitate Ekintzaileen emaitzen gainean duten eragina aztertzen den. Aurreko helburua betetzeko, ikerketa honek ikuspegi kuantitatiboa jarraitu du. Gainera, ikerketa estrategia bezala inkesta erabili da eta analisi unitatea unibertsitatea bera izan da; zehazki, unibertsitatearen hirugarren misioa bultzatzen duten Europar unibertsitateak.