Incubating the Future

formica@cofimp.itSkype: aryatre

Piero Piero Formica

Professor of Knowledge Economics and Entrepreneurship,

Faculty of Economics and Business Administration,

University of Tartu

Incubator as Particle Accelerator

Entrepreneurial Energy Formula

3

Source: Piero Formica and Elias Carayannis, “Intellectual Venture Capitalists: An Emerging Breed of Knowledge Entrepreneurs”, Industry and Higher Education (forthcoming)

E = MC

E = MC3

E stands for Ken-EnergyKEN (verb) : to have understandingKEN (noun) : a range of vision

The entrepreneurial energy performs a function that corresponds to that of the knowledge energy

E = MC3

M stands for entrepreneurial mass made up of attributes and motivations

Attributes and Motivations

Attributes• Clarity of leadership• Openness and inquisitiveness that stimulates innovation and

learning• Creation of new value or organisational capability• Flexibility to change• Relationship building skills• Ability to convince others (employees, individual investors,

suppliers, and landlords) to share start-up risks

Motivations• Capacity to think for oneself• Self-confidence: having optimism and personal drive• Sense of autonomy, independence and risk-taking• Intense emotions

E = MC3

Akio Morita’s (Sony’s founder) Cs:• Creativity in technology (creation)• Creativity in planning (conversion)• Creativity in marketing (commercialization)

CT x CP x CM

E = MC3

CT x CP x CM

• Interactive conversation• Markets are conversation • Links in human networks: affinity groups - small pieces loosely joined

In the Incubator markets are conversation

• Conversation = cum versare: – To turn or– To dance together

• Products, inventions and services, great and small, are created through talking:– Watson and Crick vs Linus Pauling– Lunar Society: “The best preceptor is the

conversation of eminent men”

The Incubator is a low context community…

• Member participation is wide open• Participants are on equal footing• Strength of weak ties• Non face-to-face interactions in online based

community• Exchange of cognitive elements of tacit

knowledge• Self-supporting people that think forward and

outward looking• Unconventional effects

It was in coffee-houses that commerce and new technology first became intertwined

Blogs (blogger.com)as tools for reflection and interactionKnowledge pools

… A café-type communityA life form whose behaviour is organised from the bottom up

Knowledge Pools at the Incubator - A super collider for the entrepreneurial reaction……bringing them together the reaction starts

KNOWLEDGEKNOWLEDGEPOOLPOOL

Researchers

Technologists

Business strategists

MKGT experts

Business lawyers(IPR, contracts,..)

Market and sale forces

“The symbiosis is the building upon one another's strength…one another's competencies…adding value and passing it on”

Knowledge value chain reaction

Differentbackgrounds

Differentdisciplines

Differenttheoreticalconditions

The Emergence of Knowledge Innovation Zones

• A gravitation-sensitive context– In a setting of interrelated conditions, knowledge-driven firms

accelerate toward each other (‘knowledge cluster’ effect) so as – to close the gap between different business entities– to go above the critical threshold (exponential growth)

• A geographical or a conceptual (virtual) space where knowledge flows from the point of origin to the point of need or opportunity

• The epicenter of three forces that empower the innovation process:– creativity– science– advanced infra and info structures

The Incubator in the Knowledge Innovation Zones

INCUBATOR – NEW VENTURE CREATION

International Academy ofEntrepreneurship• Faculty• Incubation

knowledge creation

knowledge commercialization

knowledge conversion

Source: http://www.inthekzone.com/principles.htm

The International Academy of Entrepreneurship:Education Alliance

• A Thinking Society – A cradle to career continuum

• An integrated, multi-level, commercial model of private education based on best practices in teaching and learning

• The Alliance forges strategic partnerships with selected education providers to achieve the optimal education environment

• The Alliance applies innovative learning delivery modalities (virtual and physical) to achieve the optimal business environment

Academicspractice-oriented

scholars

The International Academy ofEntrepreneurship

Competence blockfor

entrepreneurial education

Competence block for application and

experimentationINCUBATOR

WITHOUT BORDERS

Competence setters

Start-ups Corporate ventures Spin-offs

New Venture Creation

Competence setters

ICT Media Utilities/ Resources

Innovativeversusreplicativeentrepreneurs

Originalityandheterodoxthinking

Cross-border,internationalstart-ups

Corporateprofessors:theory-orientedpractitionersIntelIBMGartnerNokia…..

EuropeAsiaNorth AmericaLatin AmericaMiddle East

International Academy

IUE Educational Environment Zernike Business EnvironmentZernike Business Environment

Formal lectures

Action learning

¥ Experiences in new business creation¥ Hands-on guidance¥ Counselling¥ Zero and seed funds¥Commercialisation

¥ Business Innovation Centre¥ Incubators

Pre

-Incu

bati

on

IncubationIncubation

NETWORKEDSPIN-OFFS

Students participateto action learningteams by leveragingon repositories ofperceivedentrepreneurialopportunities.

¥ Perception of the significance and natureof events before they have occurred.¥ Market-focused technology audit ofacademic research in order to exploitentrepreneurial opportunities fromresearch findings.¥ Time-to market, which means addressingthe right window of opportunity.

Marketing foresightMarketing foresightBusiness PlansBusiness Plans

Pre-Incubation

International Academy ofInternational Academy ofEntrepreneurshipEntrepreneurship Incubator

•Experiences in new venture creation

•Portfolio of idea generation

•Screening & supply of would-be entrepreneurs

•Hands-on guidance

•Zero & seed funds

Concept Process

World Business Incubator Cross-border, international start-ups

High-growth businesses by young entrepreneurs

• 100 young people aged 18 to 30 on an annual basis to reside in the Incubator Environment

• The would-be entrepreneurs come from a cross section of society, and represent all continents of the World

• Participants split into Business Action Groups (BAGs) to pool their resources, backgrounds, and ideas, to develop common Business Projects

Source :Mr Bernt Chr. BJAANES, Mr Ragnar SIIL, Mr Fredrick LEE-OHLSSON, Ms Olya SMYRNOVA

TEAMBUILDINGto form a tight group

CREATIVITYto form a creative spirit

BRAINSTORMINGto generate ideas

GROUPINGto create a structure

FACTSto get the maximum of knowledge and information

PROJECT MANAGEMENTto get knowledge on howto develop a manage a

business project

PARTNERSHIP & CO-OPERATIONto get tools to and understanding how to involve partners in collaboration and financing

IMPLEMENTATION & ACTIONto get knowledge how toimplement business ideas

BUSINESS ACTION GROUP

10 incubator participants

with complementary background

World Business Incubator Cross-border, international start-ups

High-growth businesses by young entrepreneurs

Tear down man-made barriers(cultural,institutional,geographic)

Emerge from anetwork of complementaryideas and people

Boundary-lessKnowledge MarketsKnow & Info SystemsCustomer Knowledge & SupportKnowledge ArbitrageE-Learning ExchangeEconomic and Business Intelligence

Best performer

CulturalIntegration

Worst performer

Low Creative High

Employment

UK & Eire

Central Europe (Netherlands, Germany,Austria, Switzerland)

Scandinavia

Med Europe (France, Italy, Spain,Portugal, and Greece)

Eastern Europe (Croatia, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania)

24.4

27.5

27.028.7

24.3

28.8

7 small EuropeanCountries(< 10m population):Ireland, Norway,Finland, Denmark,Switzerland, Austria,Sweden)

EU big 4:Germany, France,UK, Italy

25.0 EU average:Proportion of respondents who have thought about or who are thinking about setting up a business – 2003 Eurobarometer survey

Cultural Integration, Creative Employment

and Propensity to Entrepreneurship

Incubator TRENDSETTER

The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized in the lifetime opportunity

Martin Curley, Director Innovation and IT Research, Intel