Editorial: Introducing the implementation of open innovation approaches by academic entrepreneurship as a viable solution to tackle the lack of resources

In the last decades, a large stream of literature has recognised the entrepreneurial activity as a critical driving force of the socio-economic development, industrial renewal and societal wealth. Universities and other public research organisations are increasingly considered key sources of innovation as well as favourable environments for the development of new entrepreneurship. Among the various forms of academic entrepreneurship, the creation of Academic Spin-offs (ASOs) represents an effective commercial mechanism to transfer the results of research to the industrial and socio-economic system This special issue aims to contribute to the debate around the implementation of Open Innovation (OI) approaches by ASOs and support the collection of theoretical and empirical studies on these topics in order to fill the existing gap. The basic premise of this special issue is that ASOs can overcome their shortage of tangible and intangible resources, as well as their unfamiliarity with the market environment, by opening their boundaries and collaborating with external third parties