Why Universities Should Support More Student Entrepreneurs?

According to Bill Aulet, managing director of The Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship:?"Entrepreneurship?is essentially about having control over one's destiny."?

To say it in more easy words:?The only way to control one's destiny is to create it through entrepreneurship!?

Developing An Entrepreneurial Culture

In his article; "Entrepreneurship: A Working Definition", Professor Tom Eisenmann stressed that: "like?strategy?or?business model, the word?entrepreneurship?is elastic".?

I admit How true is that!

Always according to Eisenmann, "For some,?Entrepreneurship?refers to venture capital-backed startups and their kin; for others, to any small business. For some, "corporate entrepreneurship" is a rallying cry; for others, an oxymoron."

If needed, you can still have access to the full article of Pr. Tom Eisenmann, here.

For its part,?entrepreneurial culture?is about the attitude, values, skills, and power of individuals or groups working in an institute or an organization to generate income.

Yet, the entrepreneurial spirit goes beyond owning a business. It is a way of life and perspective all its own.

To reuse?Peter Drucker's?Words: "An entrepreneur is someone who always searches for change responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity."

From Entrepreneurial Culture to Entrepreneurship Ecosystem

The phenomenon of?entrepreneurship?and?entrepreneurial activities?in universities and research organizations starts in the U.S. At the same time, inventions and patents have emerged as attractive economic resources in the?Higher Education sector.

For instance, most people around the globe use to know the traditional center of university-based innovation and entrepreneurship Massachusett Institute of Technology or?MIT,?for its acronym and its connection to the Greater Boston entrepreneurship ecosystem.

A 2019 survey by KPMG (the third-largest accounting firm in the World)?ranked Boston?in the top 10 cities on the planet to become the "leading technology innovation hub outside of Silicon Valley over the coming years."

Many factors made the innovation ecosystem in Boston successful over the years, such as the high concentration of colleges and universities and the colossal investment in research.

According to Statista, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology spent about?one billion U.S dollars?on research and development in 2019. Figure 1. below, showcases the Research and Development (R&D) expenditures of MIT from 2006 to 2020.

Figure 1. Research and Development (R&D) expenditures of MIT from 2006 to 2020.

That explains why?MIT?is consistently ranked as one of the top Research Universities worldwide and how its?entrepreneurship ecosystem?impacted the World.?

In the same perspective, new cities rise in the new ranking, compared to 2019 such as Singapore that takes the top spot, according to KPMG Technology Industry Innovation survey 2021)

The New Generation Of Entrepreneurs

In their article ? Who Creates Jobs? Small vs. Large vs. Young, ? still available for access?here, authors admit that?most job creation in the United States has occurred in young startup companies over the last two decades.?

That said, it becomes vital in a modern global connected economy to develop an entrepreneurial culture in (and by) Universities that should get this critical area back on track to support more?student entrepreneurs.?

The main reason is that Universities have always been a?societal hub for knowledge, learning, and generating ideas. Yet, It is essential to capture, organize and implement synergies to turn these ideas into innovative projects that attract investors.

Universities also provide professional training for?high-level on-demand jobs for those who?aspire to have better working conditions and moreover to create their own economy.

Especially since most of the Workforce and Job seekers today are?Digital natives?who grew up in an immersive computing environment.?They come to class equipped with mobile devices, smartphones, and iPods and have more freedom to access digital tools and resources.

Furthermore,?this category has?the potential to define what skills and careers they want, which is pretty attractive compared to years ago, when the predefined career and learning programs world was the most dominant.

However, universities are just one part of the ecosystem which also requires the involvement of governments, policymakers, as well as public and private sectors.?

Universities should also establish links with Industry via internship programs. That's increasingly important as both still have a lot to learn from one another to ensure knowledge transfer, mentorship opportunities, and, most importantly, allowing learners to work in early-stage companies to understand what being an entrepreneur means in the real world.

Universities around the world don't necessarily need to duplicate the Silicon Valley, MIT, or Boston entrepreneurial story or model. They have to find what works better for their society. Yet, getting inspired and connecting to successful people and institutions is crucial to thriving in a very competitive global economy?