Researcher to Entrepreneur: Connecting Researchers to the University’s Entrepreneurship Ecosystem by Dr. Marina Biniari Assistant Professor of High Growth Entrepreneurship Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, SCI, Aalto University

Academic Career Development: Career Development Support for PhD-students and Postdocs From your comments: “the creation of an educational, research, innovation and incubation program” “How to move from administration to agile leadership support” “project funding from external sources”

Who is my audience?

You are designers!

You could have a decisive role in shaping how and the degree to which researchers in your Universities can act entrepreneurially or not!

What is entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurial attitude As a process Ecosystem Team of Individuals Venture Environment Resources Customers Opportunity Animation – the most visible though aspects of the process remain the entrepreneur and the venture. The venture is the most legitimate form of entrepreneurial action, but this does not exclude that the entrepreneurial process may result in other outcomes that do not include the formation of a venture. Discovery /Creation Entrepreneurial attitude Exploration Exploitation

As a mindset… “the ability to rapidly sense, act, and mobilize, even under uncertain conditions” As a mindset, entrepreneurship implies cognitive adaptability, ability to be dynamic, flexible, and self-regulating in one's cognitions given dynamic and uncertain task environment Ireland R.D., Hitt, M.A.,& Sirmon, D.G. 2003. A model of strategic entrepreneurship: The construct and its dimensions. Journal of Management, 29: 963–990

Myth # 1: “I thought researchers were supposed to do research and teach!”

Well, they do! But their aspirations may become more entrepreneurial …

Environmental factors Individual – Environmental factors A bit of motivation, a lot of willingness, sufficient incentives, and some commitment Individual factors Environmental factors Individual – Environmental factors

Considering the engagement in ENT activities … May involve a role identity transition for a researcher Scenario 2 Scenario 1 Laitoksen nimi 11/11/2018

Have you conducted an audit? What do you know about your researchers’ ENT intensions, efficacy, aspirations? Have you conducted an audit? Laitoksen nimi 11/11/2018

Myth # 2: “Researchers who want to act entrepreneurially will find their way around” Laitoksen nimi 11/11/2018

Maybe… but serendipity could also be proactively managed

What is “academic entrepreneurship”? The commercialization of innovations developed by academic scientists Bayh–Dole Act 1980 how universities commercialize and diffuse technologies developed in their research laboratories and elsewhere on campus Via patenting, licensing, start-up creation, and university–industry partnerships re-evaluation of the role of the university in society; multi-faceted role in transferring knowledge Grinaldi, R., Kenney, M., Siegel, D.S., & Wright, M., 2011. 30 years after Bayh-Dole: Reassessing academic entrepreneurship. Research Policy. 40: 1045-1057.

What determines the strategic response of a university to the “entrepreneurship” theme? Governmental policies association of university funding with its commercialization performance University (or even departmental) culture and identity Role of university in society; historical factors; openness to commercialization activities Individual campus leadership Quality of the university (research) Commercialization capabilities of the university Environmental dynamism and munificence of local ecosystem Laitoksen nimi 11/11/2018

Ways to be an entrepreneurial university University patents represent only one mechanism by which academic research results can be transferred to the market place Other mechanisms Licensing the generation of academic spin-offs, collaborative research, contract research and consulting, ad-hoc advice and networking with practitioners teaching, joint publication with industry and personnel-related learning activities such as staff exchange and joint student supervision student entrepreneurship Laitoksen nimi 11/11/2018

University-level internal mechanisms Increasing awareness… Business plan competitions Training on the commercialization process; participants experiment with the “entrepreneur” role identity; networking; development of entrepreneurship skills Technology Transfer Offices Proactively seeking to identify researchers keen to commercialize their innovations Moving into the commercialization process… Incubators Building ventures; consulting services; coaching University venture funds Securing seed finances Changing the rules of the game… Enabling researchers to commercialize their IP Investing in education… Educating entrepreneurially minded and capable researchers Laitoksen nimi 11/11/2018

Implications for Universities Pressure to advocate the commercialization of academic knowledge; Rethinking their research and innovation, and educational strategy; Development of specific initiatives to promote university–industry partnerships; Introduction of new organizational entities such as incubators/accelerators, science parks, dedicated venture capital initiatives Rethinking their HR and administrative services to support an “commercialization or entrepreneurship visions” Laitoksen nimi 11/11/2018

What is your University’s strategy and what career options and support do you provide to your researchers? Orchestrating the support services Recruitment and training of newcomers Training of existing Faculty

What shall I take away…? Individual comparison Perceived behaviour –outcome relationship Org. Antecedents -Rewards - Management support -- Work discretion / autonomy - Time availability - Org boundaries Individual level outcomes Organizational level outcomes Individual’s ENT behavior Perceived behaviour –outcome relationship Organizational comparison Kuratko et al., 2005

Aalto ENT ecosystem

Why do (should) we care about entrepreneurship? … it is about building transferable capabilities Cognitive capabilities Solving problems with creative thinking Searching for relevant problems to solve Tolerating ambiguity & uncertainty Understanding the entrepreneurial process Adaptability, flexibility Emotional Capabilities Tolerating hype & failure Self-regulation Alertness Psychological capital

Researcher to Entrepreneur: Connecting Researchers to the University’s Entrepreneurship Ecosystem by Dr. Marina Biniari Assistant Professor of High Growth Entrepreneurship Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, SCI, Aalto University

Thank you! Marina.Biniari@aalto.fi