University-based entrepreneurship has received increasing attention in higher education and innovation policy in Europe. Research-based firms are seen as important for regional development because they are assumed to have high growth potential. In this paper, I present preliminary findings of a study on entrepreneurship that was carried out at the University of Eastern Finland. The findings indicate that the picture of university-based entrepreneurship is very
heterogeneous and not necessarily imply rapid growth. Firstly, the materials show that enterprises established by university graduates operate in many fields of business. Secondly, only a part of the firms are research-based or currently utilize research results from the university. Thirdly, research-based or currently research-oriented firms do not seem to differ much from other kind of firms with respect to past or current growth. From the policy point of view, this suggests that university-based entrepreneurship should not be narrowly defined simply on the basis of research orientation.