Governance Pathways in Competition-Based Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: Evidence From Technology-Oriented Competitions in Chinese Higher Education

This study examines how competition-based innovation and entrepreneurship education is organized through intermediary governance platforms within Chinese higher education. Competitions are conceptualized as intermediary governance platforms that connect governments, universities, enterprises, and actors within innovation ecosystems. The study examines how different forms of multi-stakeholder participation are associated with governance pathways and ecosystem embedding. Drawing on documentary analysis of 40 technology-oriented innovation competitions in China, this study employs an analytical framework to compare governance arrangements across competitions. The findings identify four governance pathways: Enterprise-Embedded Governance, Institutional-Integrated Governance, Policy-Anchored Governance, and Professional/Autonomous Governance. The analysis further reveals that enterprise participation extends beyond resource support and operates through multiple governance mechanisms, including industrial problem translation, ecosystem embedding, professional evaluation, and talent development. This study contributes to higher education governance research by repositioning competition-based innovation and entrepreneurship education as a multi-stakeholder governance platform rather than merely an educational practice. It also provides an analytical lens for understanding how policy institutions, educational organizations, and enterprises coordinate innovation-oriented activities across different institutional contexts.