INNOVATIVE POTENTIAL, INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL AND ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY OF UNIVERSITIES IN ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEMS
Authors: Porev Sergiy , Kolomytseva Olena 
Published: December 2021

The article is devoted to the problem of methods and means development of knowledge exchange management between universities and innovative firms in entrepreneurial ecosystems. It is noted that the indicators of attracting business funds for research and development in higher education in Ukraine, compared to other countries, indicate a dissonance in the economic and cognitive dimension between innovative entrepreneurship and research groups of universities. Our previous research shows that, unlike leading countries, the formation of entrepreneurial ecosystems in Ukraine should be not only about targeted support for high-growth firms, but also about ensuring effective bilateral knowledge exchange of universities with all interested firms and startups.

The concept of absorptive capacity of individuals and organizations, the concept of innovation potential, intellectual capital, human capital and the relationship between them are considered. It is shown that the usefulness of the absorptive capacity concept is that it contributes to the formation of methods and means to increase the efficiency of knowledge exchange in entrepreneurial ecosystems with the participation of universities. It is substantiated that the university has a more complex range of absorptive abilities of employees than organizations with a strictly dominant type of activity and field of knowledge used. It is proved that the absorptive capacity of employees in universities should be considered in the dimensions of teaching, research and development, training and start-up innovative entrepreneurship, as well as taken into account the diversity of fields and types of knowledge used.

Our addition to the concept of absorptive capacity with the thesis on the limitations of cognitive communication between persons with different cognitive orientations is original. One of the main difficulties in the knowledge exchange between university scientists and employees of companies is that they deal with different types of knowledge and carry out significantly different activities. In our previous studies, this was associated with cognitive gaps that occur when transferring the mental knowledge of subjects to material media in the form of information, and then - its awareness by individuals who have experience other than the authors. The phenomena that cause them are an important factor in the problems of cognitive exchange of university scientists with entrepreneurs.

Based on the wide range of knowledge, activities and absorptive capacities of individuals and communities in university, it is proposed to differentiate between measures to ensure and stimulate educational, research and innovative entrepreneurial activities in order to adequately support them.

In our opinion, the indicators that indirectly represent the realized absorptive capacity include those results that are traditional for the relevant categories of employees in universities. The absorptive capacity of teachers, in particular, is realized in the content of those courses that they personally form, while the main achievement of the researcher is new scientific or related knowledge. Criteria and indicators of the realized absorptive capacity can be specified, and it will be a subject of our further researches.