A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs: Understanding Differences in the Types of Entrepreneurship in the Economy

Policymakers and pundits who use entrepreneurship as a "catch-all" phase to capture a single economic activity make an important mistake. There are two distinct types of entrepreneurship with different economic roles, requiring individually tailored policies to support each. This report examines the difference between IDE Entrepreneurship (innovation-driven enterprises) and SME Entrepreneurship (small and medium enterprises) and the type of policies required to support each

Use and perceptions of second life by distance learners: comparison with other communication media

Research has demonstrated that the use of communication media in distance education can reduce the feeling of distance and isolation from peers and tutor, and provide opportunities for collaborative learning activities (Bates, 2005). The use of virtual worlds (VW) in education has increased in recent years, with Second Life (SL) being the most commonly used VW in higher education (Wang & Burton, 2012). There is a paucity of information available on students’ use and perceptions of SL in relation to other online communication media available to the distance learner. Consequently, in the study described here, this area was explored with a group of students registered in a part-time distance education Master’s program at a large UK University open to international students. A self-completion survey was designed to assess students’ use and perceptions of using SL compared with other communication media. The majority of students rated SL lower than other forms of communications media such as email, WebCT discussion boards, Skype, and Wimba for facilitating communication, promoting the formation of social networks, fostering a sense of community, and benefiting their learning.  It is possible that the results of this study were influenced by the lower frequency of use of SL in this program compared to other work reported on this subject. Further work is required to evaluate the effect of frequency of use of SL and availability of alternative communication media on students’ use and perceptions of this virtual world

Entrepreneurial Experiments in Science Policy: Analizing the Human Genome Project

We re-conceptualize the role of science policy makers, envisioning and illustrating their move from being simple investors in scientific projects to entrepreneurs who create the conditions for entrepreneurial experiments and initiate them. We argue that reframing science policy around the notion of conducting entrepreneurial experiments – experiments that increase the diversity of technical, organizational and institutional arrangements in which scientific research is conducted – can provide policy makers with a wider repertoire of effective interventions. To illustrate the power of this approach, we analyze the Human Genome Project (HGP) as a set of successful, entrepreneurial experiments in organizational and institutional innovation. While not designed as such, the HGP was an experiment in funding a science project across a variety of organizational settings, including seven public and one private (Celera) research centers. We assess the major characteristics and differences between these organizational choices, using a mix of qualitative and econometric analyses to examine their impact on scientific progress. The planning and direction of the Human Genome Project show that policy makers can use the levers of entrepreneurial experimentation to transform scientific progress, much as entrepreneurs have transformed economic progress.Entrepreneurial Experiments; Science Policy; Human Genome Project

Food Innovation Consultancy Challenge: 'Live' Learning and Professional Development with an Industry Client

Abstract What makes you stand out in the market for that great graduate job? In the competitive market for graduate jobs, securing a good degree no longer sets you apart from other candidates – this workshop will show academics how to improve student employability through 'real life' learning in collaboration with leading UK industry businesses. The Food Innovation Consultancy Challenge is part of Sheffield Business School's 'live' strategic pillar offering students consultancy opportunities collaborating with key industry partners. The module forms one-third of students final year grading and has a significant impact on their degree classification. It is designed to improve professional skills through applied learning from a topical real life challenge. Through seamless teaching it provides integrated, exponential, problem-based and active learning, and develops team working and individual skills to get students 'career ready'. Over eighty students worked with Asda Stores plc on a sugar reduction project on Asda Brand biscuits in line with Public Health England targets to help reduce childhood obesity. Students were presented with a brief by the client and using primary and secondary research, along with commercial evaluations provided recommendations for Asda Bourbons, Custard Cream and Milk Chocolate Digestives. The project allowed students to reflect on their career development and future plans, and by using appropriate models and career management theory provide individual input to a group task. The module included a speed dating session with Asda management and culminated with the students presenting their recommendations at Asda House to an academic and Asda panel. The author would like to share the success of the student experience and recommendations to the client with BAM delegates. This academic model is one that satisfies student and industry requirements by providing work experience and self-reflection, action planning and improving student employability. The module was such a success that it appeared in the press in The Grocer and on the BBC. It has become the focus of 'live' module delivery across the whole of the courses within SBS

Evaluating the Role of Science Philanthropy in American Research Universities

Philanthropy plays a major role in university-based scientific, engineering, and medical research in the United States, contributing over $4 billion annually to operations, endowment, and buildings devoted to research. When combined with endowment income, university research funding from science philanthropy is$7 billion a year. This major contribution to US scientific competitiveness comes from private foundations as well as gifts from individuals. From the researcher’s perspective, analysis in this paper demonstrates that science philanthropy provides almost 30% of the annual research funds of those in leading universities. And yet science philanthropy has been largely overshadowed by the massive rise of federal research funding and, to a lesser extent, industry funding. Government and industry funding have drawn intensive analysis, partly because their objectives are measurable: governments generally support broad national goals and basic research, while industry finances projects likely to contribute directly to useful products. In contrast, philanthropy’s contribution to overall levels of scientific funding and, more importantly, the distribution of philanthropy across different types of research are poorly understood. To fill this gap, I provide the first empirical evaluation of the role of science philanthropy in American research universities. The documented extent of science philanthropy and its strong emphasis on translational medical research raises important questions for federal policy makers. In determining their own funding strategies, they must no longer assume that their funding is the only source in shaping some fields of research while recognizing that philanthropy may ignore other important fields

Two nonlinear systems from mathematical physics

The dissertation is divided into two chapters. In the first one, we consider the 2-Vortex problem for two point vortices in a complex domain. The Hamiltonian of the system contains the regular part of a hydrodynamic Green’s function, the Robin function h and two coefficinets which are the strengths of the point vortices. We prove the existence of infinitely many periodic solutions with minimal period T which are a superposition of a slow motion of the center of vorticity along a level line of h and of a fast rotation of the two vortices around their center of vorticity. These vortices move in a prescribed subset of the domain that has to satisfy a geometric condition. The minimal period can be any T in a certain interval. Subsets to which our results apply can be found in any generic bounded domain. The proofs are based on a recent higher dimensional version of the Poincaré-Birkhoff theorem due to Fonda and Ureña. In the second part, we study bifurcations of a multi-component Schrödinger system. We construct a solution branch synchronized to a positive solution of a simpler system. From this branch, we find a sequence of local bifurcation values in the one dimensional case and also in the general case provided that the positive solution is nondegenerate