Abstract:

Academic entrepreneurship has been the practice and the emphasis of the Universities over the past decade  and transformed  the  Universities  from  mono-disciplinary  university  models  to  trans-disciplinary  entrepreneurial universities.  This  transformation  process  in  Malaysia  has  been strategically triggered by the government. Even the development of the national innovation system has been  policy  driven.  This  paper  looks  at  the  role  of  academic entrepreneurship  and  the  government policy  in  implementing  and  transformation  from  knowledge  based  education to  innovation  based industry.  Since  this  transformation  is  mostly  stimulated  by  an  increasing  number  of government support programs, this paper further analyses on these government support programs and how these policy-driven  approach  has  been  effective  in  enhancing  academic  entrepreneurship  in  higher education institutions and the national innovation system.  It further looks into some of the successful practices in other countries and makes suggestions to overcome the challenges in order to achieve the objective of the role of academic entrepreneurship in the development of the country.