1. Education for enhancing technology entrepreneurship Presentation made by Prof. Jerzy Cieslik Leon Kozminski Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management For UNIDO, Vienna, 29 January 2008

2. 2 Personal introduction  1976 - 1989 Professor of the Warsaw School of Economics  1983 – 1989 UNIDO consultant and short-term staff (technology transfer) – Vienna office and numerous field missions in Africa and Asia  1990 – 2003 – founder, senior partner and CEO of Ernst & Young Poland (accounting, tax and consultancy services)  2004 retired from business and re-joined academic community as „pracademic” in the Leon Kozminski Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management  Founder of the „Dynamic Entrepreneurship” Programme addressed to the academic community, particularly non-business studies in Poland. Bottom-up „social entrepreneurship” undertaking with some government support.  Expert of the European Commission - European project „Entrepreneurship in higher education, especially within non-business studies”.  Supervisory Board Member of the Warsaw Technology Park Initiative

3. 3 Technology entrepreneurship – a practitioners perspective  Dynamic, high-potential (including technology-based) entrepreneurship is a distinct segment from traditional small business sector  Technology entrepreneurship (based on product and/or process innovations) is much broader concept than just high-tech ventures. It includes also successful „replicative entrepreneurs”  Technical background is essential for success but only if combined with sound business and marketing expertise of technology entrepreneurs  Expanding the supply of motivated and skilful candidates for technology entrepreneurs is critical for innovation process  Among various support measures entrepreneurship training proved to be very effective particularly in combination with other support measures (coaching, financial support)

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5. 5 Key lessons from the accumulated experiences in teaching entrepreneurship at the university level  Entrepreneurship is not only about natural traits. It can be taught and teaching may contribute to shaping entrepreneurial attitudes and skills  Entrepreneurs are different than managers and shall be trained differently – holistic rather than functional approach  Entrepreneurship is not only for business but also for non-business students (engineering, hard sciences, medical, arts, etc)  Students who take part in the business start-up process ( even if it is only a didactic game) where they have to make some decisions or even set up a real business will learn much more than those attending traditional classroom lectures  Mixed methods in teaching entrepreneurship proved to be most effective. Direct contact in the classroom combined with the web-based tools and supporting materials.

6. 6 Implications for catching-up developing and transition economies  „Latecomer advantage” (T. Veblen, 1915) is a valid concept particularly under ICT revolution  Lower cost of implementation by the followers  Benefiting from the accumulated operating experiences  Role of ICT technologies  Easier and faster access to best practices  Open access” trend in leading universities  „ …neoclassical theory sees economic development largely driven by accumulation – investments in physical and human capital. In contrast, we argue that the key driving force of catch-up is assimilation, learning to do effectively what countries have been doing, often for some time.” Richard R. Nelson (2006)

7. 7 Technology entrepreneurship education and coaching at the university level – a broader perspective

8. Business Start Decision YES NO Entrepreneurship training and business development funnel Incubation, Coaching Financial Support Basic Entrepreneurship TrainingAdvanced Training and Coaching Initial Business Ideas Business Plan Business Concept Launching Operations

9. 9 Key success factors in the university level entrepreneurship training „Entrepreneurial” Rectors and Educators Financial support and coaching for best projects Networking (web-based) among educators

10. 10 Some implementation experiences  Attitudes of hard sciences academic community towards entrepreneurship and management disciplines  Encouraging engineering, agricultural, hard sciences students to choose entrepreneurial career path  necessity versus opportunity entrepreneurship  Cooperation among participating educators and coaches  exchange of experiences, online support, etc  Knowledge management (database of cases, tools, materials, etc.)  Combining traditional classroom methods with the web-based tools proved very effective  Dedicated portal  Some financial support for best projects essential! Example: Regional programme (Warsaw area) for 120 students envisaged financial support for 12 new ventures (5,000 euro each). Training component completed by 65 students out of which 25 started their own business.

11. Available resources and experiences  Detailed methodologies and content for technology entrepreneurship courses at various levels  Didactic aids, tools, etc.  Experiences in designing and running a dedicated portal for teaching and networking   Networking experiences among entrepreneurship educators 11

12. Launching technology business – training programme outline 12

13. 13 Portal www.cieslik.edu.pl www.cieslik.edu.pl

14. 14 Electronic platform www.cieslik.edu.pl www.cieslik.edu.pl Dynamic entrepreneurship Portal Platform for tailored programs Textbook Teaching programs in higher education institutions Dynamic Business Club Support and networking platform for start-ups Promotion Media contacts Additional teaching, materials, tools for students Networking platform for lecturers Technical infrastructure Databases – teaching materials, users, companies, etc.

15. European Commission Project  „Entrepreneurship in higher education, especially within non- business studies”.  Started in 2006  Initial phase – gathering experiences and best practices accumulated by higher educational institutions across Europe  Report to be ready in April 2008  Future initiatives shall focus on  deploying best practices to countries with limited experiences in technology entrepreneurship  supporting international co-operation projects among European universities

16. UNIDO perspective?  Technology + Entrepreneurship + Higher education - a very important field in the context of sustainable industrial development and catching-up  Potential to contribute to private sector development, especially SMEs sector  Development of local industries based on close links between higher educational institutions and the local business community (industrial and technology parks, technology centres, business incubators)  Strengthening capabilities of technical, agricultural higher education institutions in technology transfer by shaping entrepreneurial attitudes of university graduates, creating necessary infrastructure (entrepreneurial centres, technology transfer offices)

17. Q & A Discussion 17

18. 18 Contact details Prof. Jerzy Cieslik Leon Kozminski Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management Jagiellonska 59, 03-301 Warsaw, Poland E-mail: jerzy@cieslik.edu.pljerzy@cieslik.edu.pl www.cieslik.edu.pl Tel. +48 502 030 030

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