I23 - Higher Education; Research InstitutionsReturn

The formation of university-spin off is seen as a potential tool for the transfer of knowledge and technology. University spin-off firms are able to transform the knowledge accumulated in research into its practical application and commercialization. Despite this fact, the formation of university spin-off is still rather rare phenomenon in many European countries. In our paper, we provide several examples of good practice in central European countries. Moreover, the paper aims to examine factors that could potentially affect the formation of university spin-offs in European countries. We applied logit and probit regression analysis based on empirical data for 2465 universities in Europe retrieved from European Tertiary Education Register database. Our results suggest that those universities, which are neither focused on many different fields of study, nor highly specialized are less often involved in creating the university spin-off. Furthermore, intensity of PhD study, the share of tuition fees as well as a number of foreign students appears to be other factors affecting the probability of forming a university spin-off. Our results also bring several policy implications for tertiary education policy, which are summarized in the conclusion.

The assessment of knowledge infrastructure, implemented on the level of administrative districts of authorized municipalities - 206 units in total, is aimed at the institutional support for knowledge base development, the fundamental component of which is the infrastructure for education. The main attention is paid to the complexity of appropriate supply. The main objective of the article is dividing of districts into five qualitative groups and their synthesis by regions. The biggest weight is assigned to the location of public universities in regions, lower weight to private universities, colleges and secondary schools. The obtained data about the educational infrastructure has been complemented by an analysis of location of science and research institutes, science and technology parks and business incubators. The most significant centres found in the best classification group are Prague and Brno. The second group contains all the remaining regional capitals except Karlovy Vary, together with Opava - a traditional university centre. The strongest centre within this group is Ostrava, the weakest is Jihlava. Based on this dividing, possibilities to influence the characteristics of knowledge infrastructure factors in the future were suggested.

Simultaneously with the development of society generally, it is essential for the educational institutions to communicate with current and potential customers, general public and all market players in a very efficient way, respecting all the developmental trends in the society. These institutions have a variety of marketing tools for their marketing communication at disposal. Trade fairs and exhibitions represent very significant tools. The article deals with the issues of trade fairs and exhibitions utilized in the marketing communications of high education institutions.