💡A few findings from our online debate on Venture capital & university start-ups which was the finale of our #Education4enterpreneurship project:
👉 Two different models on how to approach creation of university start-ups were presented. • One focusing on individual entrepreneurs (rather than researchers), fast market access and providing funding (through own VC fund), • second putting researchers (authors of the invention) and support for them into the centre (through a commercialisation triangle of TTO, SPV and incubator). These models reflected different university types: traditional one with very long history and research also in humanities and social sciences on one hand and a decade old technical university (result of a merge of several institutions) with a private status.
❓Can a researcher can be a good #entrepreneur? Question which often appears at debates related to technology and knowledge transfer and where answers vary. The difference between the researcher role and the role of entrepreneurs was discussed intensively. Commitment to technology does not necessarily mean commitment to the company and understanding of the market. But these two roles have to work closely together to understand what the world really needs. It can be a love and hate relationship sometimes. What is crucial is the appreciation of each other and mutual trust.
👉 On a more general level, importance of #TechnologyValidation,#ecosystemApproach and #internationalization was stressed as critical success factors for academic start-ups. Among the bottlenecks, lack of entrepreneurial skills or funding gap at seed and early start-up stage were mentioned.
🙏 Many thanks to our excellent speakers and moderator Imre Hild, Krzysztof Gulda and Katarina Pastrnakfor the vibrant debate, the International Visegrad Fund for the support and Jana Lachmann for organizing the event.
👀 You can watch the whole debate at https://www.edu4entrepreneurship.com/online-debate.
At this website you can also find our #Toolkit for organization of university courses focusing on product and service development: https://www.edu4entrepreneurship.com/toolkit.
