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Abstract. Due to the nature of the creative sector, which consists of a large number of SMEs and self-employed or part-time employees operating in complex and dynamic environment, the creative enterprises face a number of difficulties and are in need of support. The current study was carried out in the framework of an INTERREG project "Creative Entrepreneurship Training Network -CREAENT". The sample of the study consisted of 74 creative managers from Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Sweden. For data collection structured interviews were carried out. The method of data analysis was thematic content analysis. The creative entrepreneurs found that their weaknesses lay in different entrepreneurial competences. The best ways of acquiring entrepreneurial competences were education and experience, also communication and networking. The aspects that satisfied the creative entrepreneurs about entrepreneurship courses were useful knowledge, suitable teaching methods, new contacts and networks, and creative industry specialised courses. The unsatisfying factors were out-dated and too theoretical knowledge, unsuitable teaching and learning methods and not enough creative industry courses. The future entrepreneurship courses should provide soft skills like communication, negotiation and conflict management; attention should be paid to creative industry specific problems and needs, ways of implementing knowledge in practice, enabling dialogue and peer-teaching among participants. teorinės žinos ir per didelis jų kiekis, netinkami mokymo ir mokymosi metodai, nepakankami kūrybinių industrijų kursai. Ateities verslumo kursai turėtų suteikti tokių įgūdžių, kaip komunikavimo, derybų ir konfliktų valdymo, dėmesys turėtų būti skirtas specifinėms kūrybinių industrijų problemoms ir poreikiams, būdams naudoti įgytas žinias praktikoje, sudarantiems sąlygas vykti dialogui ir tarpusavio mokymui tarp dalyvių. KeywordsReikšminiai žodžiai: verslumo ugdymas, kūrybinės industrijos, kūrybingas verslumas, verslumo kompetencijos.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to advance the comprehension of the role that geographic proximity plays in relation to non-spatial proximity in the context of international university-industry knowledge transfer. Design/methodology/approach The paper is designed as a multiple-case study. It looks at selected instances of contract research at Tallinn University of Technology that represents a typical technical university in Central and Eastern Europe characterised by relatively short period of market economy and university-industry cooperation. Findings The results indicate that there emerge different configurations of proximity nationally and internationally. In case of domestic cooperation cognitive (education), organisational, social and institutional (institutional setting) proximity exist simultaneously with geographic proximity. International cooperation is characterised by lack of geographical proximity, but the existence of cognitive and social proximity indicating a substitution. Research limitations/implications The research is limited to analysing instances of contract research and relations between spatial and non-spatial forms of proximity. Further research could consider the differences between various channels of knowledge transfer and address the relationship between non-spatial forms of proximity. Originality/value The paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge by using proximity dimensions operationalised at aggregate and individual levels to study the university knowledge network. It is proposed in this paper that attention has to be paid to distinguishing between organisational and individual levels of analysis and their differing results. Proximity at organisational level does not necessarily translate into proximity between individuals and vice versa.

How to commercialise university-generated knowledge internationally? A comparative analysis of contingent institutional conditions Abstract Our paper sets out to explore the contingent institutional conditions that underpin knowledge transfer, and particularly commercialisation, from universities to enterprises across national borders. We explore the phenomenon in four technology-focused and research leading (in the national context) universities in Estonia, India, Portugal and the UK. We argue that participants in interactions (despite the fact that they maintain their core operations in different institutional fields) possess common knowledge bases, and shared norms and cognitive frameworks. In many cases however, the emergence of organisational rules to facilitate interactions do not lead to the institutionalisation of the processes at work: restricting the scope of both existing interactions and their advancement and offering a central role to nonpracticing entities. The paper advances university-led pooling of intellectual property (geographically or sectorally) as an alternative for institutionalisation.

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