From Lab Bench to Innovation: Critical Challenges to Nascent Academic Entrepreneurs

University research laboratories are important sources of the inventions and discoveries that become significant innovations with broad economic and societal impact. Invention alone is not innovation; innovation is the long, hard work of taking new technologies and bringing them to commercialization.There are many pathways for the dissemination of new knowledge that arises from basic research at universities, ranging from traditional methods such as publication and training students to licensing technology to established firms or new ventures.One way to transform new knowledge into valuable innovations is for university researchers to undertake the creation of new firms based on their discoveries through academic entrepreneurship. The problem is that university scientists and inventors with a discovery made at a laboratory bench face challenges beyond those experienced by traditional high-technology venture founders: they must finish creating the technology before they can begin using it.Academics typically start with inventions so immature that their commercial success cannot be predicted Academic entrepreneurship is an emerging and developing phenomenon, and there is a growing body of literature about new ventures based on university academic. However, limited research has been directed toward nascent academic entrepreneurs (NAEs) to understand the key challenges of bringing innovations to market. The majority of this work has focused on the institutional experience rather than the academic entrepreneurs and their individual experiences . Within the broader fields of entrepreneurship and innovation, it has been argued that high-potential startups such as academic ventures should receive particular attention from scholarsThe following research addressed this gap.Nascent academic entrepreneurship involves more than transforming an invention into a commercialized innovation. It is about the genesis of ideas and the emergence of opportunities, the birth of new organizations, their evolution into new companies, and the transformation of scientists into leaders. It also is about providing the foundation for future innovation by others. Though nascent academic entrepreneurship is increasing in frequency, it is not well understood. The dissertation examines this important topic

Careers in Academia and Industry: Transitions and Challenges

Start the career planning process with self-discovery and feedback from mentors. Understand the setting, culture, organizational structure, and leadership of the organizations under consideration for one’s career. Understand the expectations of potential career paths. For personal development beyond hard knowledge and skills, acquire excellent people skills and a strong network. Careers are dynamic. Maintain flexibility. Moving between environments (academia vs. industry) can be challenging, but those who successfully navigate this do so with extensive planning

Promoting A Successful Transition To A Professional Career For Vocal Studies Graduates

A successful opera singer must complement their artistic talent with entrepreneurial and business skills (Daniel & Daniel, 2015; Storen, 2014). Therefore, educational institutions must teach their graduate vocal studies students to expand their talent and learn how to market themselves as a product. Little research has been conducted from the perspective of opera singers’ academic experiences in higher educational institutions and how well their institutions prepared them for the transition to the professional world. The purpose of the study was to determine if current core curricula are sufficient or should curriculum development focus on the entrepreneurial and business aspects in the vocal arts, particularly careers in opera. Entrepreneurial bricolage theory was used to examine the educational experiences of 27 survey participants (nine of these participants were randomly chosen to be interviewed) who graduated from a higher educational institution within the past 10 years, to determine if their institutions prepared them to transition from a student into a professional opera singer. Interpretation of the data determined that networking, marketing, and budgeting knowledge and skills were lacking in development based on curricula from higher education institutions. However, high education value with voice faculty, vocal technique, and institution name recognition were experienced among the participants

University spin-offs, entrepreneurial environment and start-up policy: the cases of Waterloo and Toronto (Ontario) and Columbus (Ohio)

The version of record [Bathelt, H., & Spigel, B. (2011). University spinoffs, entrepreneurial environment and start-up policy: The cases of Waterloo and Toronto (Ontario) and Columbus (Ohio). International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, 2(2), 202-219.] is available online at: http://www.inderscienceonline.com/doi/10.1504/IJKBD.2011.041248Universities can be central to a region’s economic growth and development, especially if they support start-up, spin-off and modernisation processes related to the regional core sectors. While many governments and associations have developed programmes to encourage the establishment of university spin-offs, the policies they craft are hampered by two major problems. The first is a narrow understanding of spin-offs that focuses on firms directly based on university research. This approach misses firms that use university-related knowledge and resources, unsponsored through the university. Second, spin-off promotion policies often ignore the role of a larger regional entrepreneurial culture and supporting institutions. This paper argues that a broader view of spin-offs is required; a view that accounts for a larger array of ventures and that looks beyond the firm or university to the broader set of regional structures and relations. The empirical evidence presented draws from start-up and spin-off experiences at universities in the USA and Canada

New Hampshire University Research and Industry Plan: A Roadmap for Collaboration and Innovation

This University Research and Industry plan for New Hampshire is focused on accelerating innovation-led development in the state by partnering academia’s strengths with the state’s substantial base of existing and emerging advanced industries. These advanced industries are defined by their deep investment and connections to research and development and the high-quality jobs they generate across production, new product development and administrative positions involving skills in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)

The Importance of Artificial Intelligence and Technological Entrepreneurship on Firm Level

This publication-based dissertation analyzes the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) and technological entrepreneurship on firm level over six chapters. The essence of this dissertation consists of four independent research papers developed for publication in academic journals whose peer review process is double-blinded. The first chapter offers a general introduction to the subject matter and provides a summary of the four research papers in this dissertation. The second chapter is a systematic literature review that focuses on the importance of AI in strategic management. The third chapter is a research paper that examines the significance of technology-driven entrepreneurship activities and provides crucial lessons from small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the manufacturing industry. The fourth chapter is a research paper that empirically examines how top management can encourage and facilitate AI-enabled business model innovation. The fifth chapter comprises a teaching case study and provides and understanding of how to implement an AI-based analytical tool in a firm. The sixth chapter outlines the main findings and contributions of this dissertation

Exploring the Transition to Working Life of Entrepreneurship Education Graduates: A Longitudinal Study

publishedVersio

A procedural perspective on academic spin-off creation:the changing relative importance of the academic and the commercial sphere

Academic scientists who commercialize their research findings via spin-off creation have to transition from the academic sphere to the commercial sphere. Along this spin-off creation process, they face challenges adapting to the conflicting logics of these spheres. We hypothesize that throughout the three phases of this process, the importance of the academic sphere decreases while the importance of the commercial sphere increases. We collected a representative sample of 1,149 scientists from the German state of Thuringia. To test our hypotheses, we apply dominance analysis and estimate the relative importance of the two spheres. In line with our hypotheses, the importance of the academic sphere declines and the importance of the commercial sphere increases at the beginning of the process. Towards the end of the process, we observe a further decline in the relative importance of the academic sphere, but, unexpectedly, also a decline for the commercial sphere. Notably, our results show that the commercial sphere is in general more important than the academic sphere throughout the process. Our results challenge existing conceptualizations that emphasize the importance of the academic sphere, especially at the beginning of the spin-off founding process. The results provide intervention points for policy measures to promote academic spin-offs.</p

Advanced marketing education curriculum in secondary schools in Wisconsin

Includes bibliographical references

The Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative: Case Studies of the Social Innovation Process at a University Research Center

Purpose This paper aims to determine whether a combined set of process models for university contributions to social innovation can be effectively used to describe how higher education institutions facilitate and disseminate research for social value. Design/methodology/approach The author applies Cunha and Benneworth’s (2013) social innovation process model, with additions from the Nichols et al. (2013) model of campus-community collaboration and the Jain et al. (2020) social value framework, to a pair of case studies at Portland State University about research projects on homelessness. Information was gathered through primary sources, observation and secondary texts. Findings Applying the models to the case studies provides additional detail on the types and value of Portland State University’s contributions to addressing homelessness through social innovation. The models are found to be effective in describing and providing guidance for social innovation research projects at other higher education institutions. Research limitations/implications The models may have widespread applicability in understanding or designing university contributions to social innovation, but additional case studies and analysis are needed to understand the full range of project types and institutional contexts to which they can be successfully applied. Originality/value The projects described in the paper’s case studies have not been analyzed elsewhere using social innovation frameworks and are valuable in their own right as social innovations worthy of replication. The findings of the paper extend the applicability of a process model for university contributions to social innovation