Stimulating entrepreneurial behaviour through start-up competitions: Current features of provision in UK higher education institutions

Start-up competitions are often provided by higher education institutions as a means of stimulating and supporting nascent entrepreneurial behaviour amongst their students, graduates and staff. This chapter offers a timely exploration of the features of this provision in a UK context. After a fine-grained examination of the factors which have driven start-up competition provision and the purpose of this provision, this chapter provides observations with regard to start-up competition entrance requirements, rounds, business support, judging and prizes and awards, these constituting the dominant features of current provision in UK higher education institutions. The chapter concludes with a discussion of some emergent issues and questions that warrant further attention in the pursuit of understanding the effectiveness of start-up competitions in stimulating and supporting entrepreneurial behaviour.