Cesaer, November 19th, 2008, Politecnico di milano Engineers as entrepreneurs: strengths and weaknesses Michel BERNASCONI Professor Director of the High-Tech Entrepreneurship Center

Cesaer, November 19th, 2008, Politecnico di milano The activities of the high-tech entrepreneurship center How to find the first market of an innovation? Developping entrepreneurial spirit and new businesses

Cesaer, November 19th, 2008, Politecnico di milano Engineeers have a long tradition of entrepreneurship and they founded the management Taylor Fayol The founders of Fairchied Larry Page and Sergy Brin Founders of Google

Cesaer, November 19th, 2008, Politecnico di milano Some lessons on high-tech start-ups from and elsewhere

Cesaer, November 19th, 2008, Politecnico di milano At the begining you cannot separate the entrepreneur from the project The first positioning is rarely the right one (Bernasconi) High-tech companies remain small, in particular those coming from research (Mustar) Growth is difficult and erratic (Garnsey, Moreau) Break even is longer than expected to obtain (x2 compared to the BP) (Twaalfhoven)

Cesaer, November 19th, 2008, Politecnico di milano Why high-tech entrepreneuship is so difficult?

Cesaer, November 19th, 2008, Politecnico di milano Setting a high-tech start-up is designing a system

Cesaer, November 19th, 2008, Politecnico di milano The system: dimensions and interactions Activity (Technology-product-market) The organisation Entrepreneur(s) Financial Ressources Milieu (territory) Personal environement Industry Bernasconi, 2008 The job of an entrepreneur is to design and manage the system

Cesaer, November 19th, 2008, Politecnico di milano Building a new company is developing 3 projects Implementing the Business Plan and finding an effective Business model Building and growing the company which fits with the activity and the Business model From the idea to a first BP The entrepreneurship project The company project The opportunity project Bernasconi, 2008 Is there a business opportunity? Does it work? How to grow?

Cesaer, November 19th, 2008, Politecnico di milano Managerial thinking versus Entrepreneurial thinking M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 Managerial thinking – causal reasoning Selecting between given mean to achieve given goals Given goals Given means E1 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 Imagined ends E2 E3 E4 E5 Given means Entrepreneurial thinking – Effectual reasoning Imagining possible new ends using a given set of means Source : from Saras D. Sarasvathy

Cesaer, November 19th, 2008, Politecnico di milano Let’s talk about engineers as entrepreneurs

Cesaer, November 19th, 2008, Politecnico di milano Engineers as entrepreneurs (usual analysis) Strengths Vision Technical capacities Skills to learn Hard workers Weaknesses Market orientation Over estimation of the value of the product Limited communications skills Low understanding of the business models

Cesaer, November 19th, 2008, Politecnico di milano Entrepreneurial skills for high-tech entrepreneurs System thinking and system acting Effectual approach (and causal approach) Comfortable with uncertainty Capacity to learn fast (specific management expertises) Acting through the networks

Cesaer, November 19th, 2008, Politecnico di milano “Entrepreneurship in higher education, especially in non- business studies”, Summary of the final report of the Expert Group, European Commission, Enterprise and industry Directorate, 2008.

Cesaer, November 19th, 2008, Politecnico di milano Thank you for your attention