A central question within planning theory is how changes between the relations of ‘grand institutions’ such as state, market and education influence the formation of objects ‘on the ground’. Drawing upon Foucault’s work, this article contributes to the understanding of these relations and argues that Foucault’s work provides a powerful set of tools to understand the formation of subjects and objects in spatial planning. It presents the case of the ‘innovation campus’ in the Netherlands, a model which originated from the ‘university campus’. Through an analysis of multiple campus-building ‘events’, the innovation campus appears as a model to entice and shape a new object: the entrepreneurial researcher.