Resumo

The university plays a strategic role in the development of the innovation environment, in the construction and support of strategic knowledge for the academic community, as well as in the social sphere that is connected. The interaction takes place both in local perspectives, which are delimited in the city and/or region, and with other actors in other places, including global ones, through platforms. Understanding these relationships becomes essential to understand how the university is linked to the ecosystem.

Ardito et al. (2018) indicate that there is no study that demonstrates the role of the university clearly, as occurs with other actors such as governments, companies and civil society, a relevant research gap. Therefore, given the importance of the university's role in the context of the innovation ecosystem, this study aims to conduct a systematic literature review to identify which roles the university plays in the innovation ecosystems.

The papers related to the University and Innovation Ecosystems approach conceptualize the integration of interdependent actors with the objective of creating value to the ecosystem. This theoretical point of view is the most comprehensive and the one that connects actors, activities and artifacts through institutions and relationships, direct and complementary or substitutes (Granstrand & Holgersson, 2020). The articles presented in this section use this approach.

Our research focused on the context of innovation ecosystems and we identified other theoretical aspects consolidated in the discussion about universities. Therefore, in the data analysis, we clustered the studies into four large groups: the university's context correlated to the theoretical conception of innovation ecosystems, the concepts of an entrepreneurial university, the helix models and knowledge and open innovation.

This systematic review aimed to identify the roles that the university plays in the innovation ecosystems. This is a wide-ranging subject, and, although the university is present as an active actor in ecosystems, it was observed that most studies do not clearly delimit their role inside the ecosystem. Theoretical constructions follow different paths and present different forms of analysis.

Ardito, L., Ferraris, A., Petruzzelli, A. M., Bresciani, S., & Del Giudice, M. (2019). The role of universities in the knowledge management of smart city projects. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 142, 312-321. Granstrand, O., & Holgersson, M. (2020). Innovation ecosystems: A conceptual review and a new definition. Technovation, 90, 102098.