Encouraging entrepreneurship among graduate students: Can university proactive policies work?

Over the last decades, entrepreneurship has gained popularity among university students, and universities have developed strategies that foster an entrepreneurial climate and infuence students’ entrepreneurial intentions and behaviours. While extensive research has been conducted on Knowledge Transfer Offices (KTOs) in technology transfer, their role in promoting student entrepreneurship remains underexplored. This paper examines the impact of proactive entrepreneurship communication and educational support by KTOs on students’ entrepreneurial awareness, intentions, and participation to entrepreneurship actions. We implemented an exploratory randomized control trial with 158 graduate students from a major Italian university. The results indicate that proactive KTO communication of support increases awareness of university entrepreneurship initiatives and enhances perceptions of a supportive entrepreneurial environment. Although context-specifc, these findings provide valuable insights for designing university policies to foster student entrepreneurship. Our study contributes to the literature on student entrepreneurship and highlights the effectiveness of KTOs in supporting student entrepreneurship through proactive communication and education.