University Graduates and New Green-Tech-Based Entrepreneurship
Evidence from Italian Regions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22042801 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Francesco Lelli (0000-0003-1900-9171, University of Trento, corresponding author), Alice Bertoletti (0000-0001-8539-2098, Joint Research Center), Federico Colozza (0000-0001-7320-1629, University of Pavia) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 945 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-15 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Education Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2227-7102 • E-ISSN: 2227-7102 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/educsci16060945 |
| OpenAlex | W7165047853 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 52 |
Universities serve as catalysts for knowledge creation across territories, promoting innovation and economic development through different channels. This paper investigates the role of university graduates as a location determinant of new green-tech-based firms (NGTBFs) across Italian NUTS-3 regions over the period 2011–2017. We examine whether universities, as providers of high-skilled human capital, affect the spatial distribution of new green ventures. Adopting a patent-based definition of NGTBFs and an econometric framework accounting for regional heterogeneity, we analyse the impact of university graduates on green firm creation. The results show that higher education fosters green entrepreneurship primarily through the channel of producing doctoral and STEM-oriented graduates, who serve as key drivers of NGTBF formation. Interestingly, the analysis reveals marked spatial heterogeneity across Italy’s North–South divide, with stronger associations of PhD and STEM graduates in Southern regions, where specialised human capital appears to compensate for weaker innovation systems. These findings deliver clear policy implications, suggesting that strategies aimed at promoting green entrepreneurship should prioritise advanced, STEM-oriented human capital and explicitly account for regional contexts, rather than relying on uniform higher education expansion approaches
Econometric analysis · Econometric model · Entrepreneurship · Higher education · Human capital · Regional development · Energy, Environment, Economic Growth · Environmental Sustainability in Business · University-Industry-Government Innovation Models
Doing business in a green way
Does the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship hold for regions?
Estimating the Return to Schooling
The economic impact of universities
Human Capital and Entrepreneurship Research
Economic impact of entrepreneurial universities’ activities
Real‐world learning opportunities in sustainability
Efficiency in university-industry collaboration
What makes student entrepreneurs? On the relevance (and irrelevance) of the university and the regional context for student start-ups
Green start-ups and local knowledge spillovers from clean and dirty technologies
The impact of local and external university knowledge on the creation of knowledge-intensive firms
University specialization and new firm creation across industries
The creation of cleantech startups at the local level
The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship
Location determinants of green technological entry
Academic Inventors and the Antecedents of Green Technologies. A Regional Analysis of Italian Patent Data
Key competencies in sustainability
The territorial dynamics of innovation
The contribution of academic inventors to regional technological diversification
Regional artificial intelligence and the geography of environmental technologies
Green technological diversification and regional recombinant capabilities
University Research and the Location of Business R&D
Limitations of human capital theory
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |