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This study attempts to extend the definition of social innovation within the context of academic entrepreneurship. We consider how academic entrepreneurs can undertake commercial activities, and which ones, and how these activities contribute to the contexts of social innovation. We explore two cases that are derived from two premier universities in Taiwan in terms of research and academic entrepreneurship: OurCityLove from National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) and the Forest app from National Tsing Hua University (NTHU). The two cases show how social enterprises achieved the financial ability to expand their businesses and create the desired social values. While the first case, derived from NCTU, focused on providing useful information on social spaces, and services for the elderly, parents traveling with babies and those with disabilities (and also creating job opportunities for the latter), the other from NTHU created an app to influence those addicted to playing with their smartphones. The cases illustrate how the two universities capitalised on their technological competencies and academic programmes to support graduates and researchers in venturing into social entrepreneurship.

This study examines why the growth of biopharmaceutical firms in latecomer countries such as Taiwan has been slower than that of information and communication technology (ICT) firms. Unlike prior studies which have focused on the industry-level driving forces, this study offers a firm-level perspective to examine factors driving industry growth. By utilising the DEcision-MAking Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method, we analyse data collected in questionnaires with the top managers of biopharmaceutical and ICT firms in Taiwan, both public and non-public. We then compared and contrasted our empirical findings to capture theoretical and practical insights. Our empirical results demonstrate that the entrepreneurial activities of Taiwan’s biopharmaceutical firms are weak in terms of adaptation to external institutions and the utilisation of resources while the primary drivers of growth in Taiwan’s biopharmaceutical firms are rather (internal) institutional factors than resource-based factors, especially in the emerging and early growth stages. We conclude that the challenge for the latecomers lies on the institutional entrepreneurship to enable and affect the circulation of strategic resources so as to bring the firms onto the growth and mature stages.