1. 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

2. 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”

3. Who is my audience?

4. You are designers!

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

6. What is entrepreneurship?

7. 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

8. 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 A model of strategic entrepreneurship: The construct and its dimensions. Journal of Management, 29: 963–990

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

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

11. 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

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

13. 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

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

15. Maybe… but serendipity could also be proactively managed

16. 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., years after Bayh-Dole: Reassessing academic entrepreneurship. Research Policy. 40:

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. Aalto ENT ecosystem

24. 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

25. 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

26. Thank you!