“We need to say yes to the ideas of student entrepreneurs and not put obstacles in their way.” So said Tuula Teeri, president of Aalto University, Finland, in a statement that summed up the thoughts of many of those gathered at the ACES conference, held at ETH Zurich on 3 February.
Teeri speaks from experience: Aalto University was formed in 2008 by the merger of three universities specialising in technology, design and business, in a bid to spur innovation through a multidisciplinary approach to education. Since then, entrepreneurial activity has started to flourish on campus.
As Kristo Ovaska, co-founder of Aalto Venture Garage at Aalto University, and winner of the 2011 Academic Enterprise Bridge Award for supporting entrepreneurship and technology transfer on campus put it, “The potential for change is huge. It’s all about technology transfer that taps all of the knowledge researchers have in the university.”
Don’t kill enthusiasm for entrepreneurship
To inspire more researchers and students to launch companies, universities need to develop a curriculum on entrepreneurship and make sure courses teach the right skill set, Ovaska says. Without the proper curriculum, “Universities have a way of killing all enthusiasm for entrepreneurship over the years.”
In the US universities have been supporting campus entrepreneurs and technology transfer programmes since the early 1980s, and UK universities have done so for a decade. But many other European universities are only just beginning to follow suit. “Europe has to examine its mindset,” said Xavier Prats-Monné, deputy director general of education and culture at the European Commission.
Technology transfer may be a weak link in Europe’s economic landscape, but the entrepreneurs who competed in the third annual Science|Business ACES conference point to a rich vein of technology and university talent ready to forge new companies and jobs in Europe. “I am struck by the sea change in the number of graduates thinking about [setting up] their own business,” said Allyson Reed, director of Strategy and Communications for the UK Technology Strategy board, the UK’s innovation agency.
ACES role models
The ACES winners include entrepreneurs who have developed and are commercialising waste recycling technology for laminated materials, a fault current limiter for electricity grids, blood biomarkers for the early diagnosis of schizophrenia, a barcode reader for smart phones that allows consumers to compare products and prices while shopping, and therapy software for dyslexia and other learning disabilities.
Daria Tataj, a member of the executive board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, said that at present entrepreneurship, “Is not naturally embraced by the majority of universities.” Role models and success stories will be vital to the process of transforming existing attitudes and culture in Europe, she told the meeting.
Delegates also agreed that along with a change in culture, the practical ways in which universities could help students, researchers and academics push new technologies out of the lab to the market include: providing low-cost campus office space; boot camps for entrepreneurs; peer mentors and access to business angels.
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