Obstacles to Commercialization of Knowledge in the University Entrepreneurship

Nowadays, knowledge and technology are considered as two main factors in creating wealth for and capability of countries and are regarded as powerful tools in national development. Therefore, a university, as a knowledge-producing institution, must fulfill its responsibility toward national development and adapt its structure to national development plans. One of the most important entrepreneurial aspects at a university is the entry of academic activities in the field of business and knowledge commercialization. The main purpose of this research is to identify the obstacles in the way of commercializing knowledge in the university entrepreneurship through a qualitative study. To this end, the qualitative method of content analysis has been implemented. The findings illustrate that the main obstacles are: lack of competition at universities, negative attitude to commercial thinking, inefficiency of laws and regulations, weaknesses in educational system, lack of trust between university and industry, financial problems, lack of skilled workforce, lack of familiarity with the real environment and lack of facelities for research purposes. Finally, some suggestions have been presented to develop the university entrepreneurship and knowledge commercialization.