Developing intellectual property management skills and the entrepreneurial university element: an educator perspective

The successful journeys of university students can be witnessed through qualifications, industry-relevant skills, and networking opportunities. A core element of this, now prevalent within universities, is the development of entrepreneurial attributes towards new ventures or start-ups. Universities wish to centralise the entrepreneurial process, through problem solving, creativity, and start-up activities. This results in the building of intellectual capital (IC) amongst students and staff, acknowledging intellectual property (IP) and intellectual property management (IPM), presenting added value. However, there is a lack of empirical investigation assessing the development of IPM-relevant skills within undergraduate courses. This paper explores a pathway of courses within a Scottish university, including leadership, acceleration, enterprise, and management topics with cohorts totalling over 350 students. Viewed through the educator perspective, multi-staged coded analysis realises the necessary points of IPM intervention, to orientate skills acquisition for IC. Subsequently, a model of factors and anticipated outcomes appreciates university-based exposure to IPM.