Nurturing the Next-Generation Entrepreneurs

Transcription

1 : Nurturing the Next-Generation Entrepreneurs 科大夢工場 : 培育新世代創業家 Gary Chan Director, Entrepreneurship Center Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering Chair, Committee on Entrepreneurship Education HKUST gchan@cse.ust.hk

2 Defining Entrepreneurship Starting up new business or service which creates economic, social (societal), cultural, or spiritual value Value generation, enhancement or capture Competitiveness often due to innovations or discoveries on Technology and engineering Science Business model and operation process Social science and humanitarian needs Examples Founding commercial ventures Joining startups Innovation within large corporations (e.g., google and facebook) Social, environmental or green entrepreneurship etc.

3 Inspired by Network Giants Hisashi Kobabyshi (Princeton, 1967) Leonard Kleinrock (MIT, 1963) Fouad Tobagi (UCLA, 1974) Gary Chan (Stanford, 1999)

4 My Research Build advanced mobile and networked systems driven by research innovations, designed by engineering excellence Addressing the curse of scale Unleashing research impacts through technology entrepreneurship and transfers Technology development and prototyping started in 2005 Working with the government and industry to transfer and deploy the developed technologies Several successful cases and transfers Entrepreneurship in the past 5 years

5 Turning Research to Commercialization: The Golden Triangle My system projects Tech. Transfer Government CRG/RGC Innovation and Technology Funds (ITF) Technology Transfer Center, Department and School of Engineering at HKUST Seed funding Advices and support on contractual agreements R&D facilities and human resources Students, alumni and staff Industry sponsors and collaborators Funding, technical support, trial sites, equipment, etc

6 Relentlessly Closing Theory-Practice Divide through Applied Research and Development My research: bridge research with practice close feedback loop best performance in their applications Research theories (tractability concern, simplifying assumptions, limited parameters) strong/optimal performance Divide ( 鴻溝 ) Industrial practice (holistic, unpredictable, uncontrollable, complex, inter-dependent parameters) Research models not easily applied

7 Theory is easier than real life Theory is easy Real life is tough In theory, everything works and we know exactly why. In practice, things breaks and we do not know why Many hidden factors which we do not understand yet in practice. So difficult! Why bother?

8 My IT Entrepreneurship Dream For money? Not so. I know money cannot buy me happiness. I have too much time? Not so. I have a wife and enough white hair (and very little hair). Because I share the same alma mater as Jeff Bezos (Amazon.com founder and CEO)? Maybe Because I graduated from Stanford? Most probably. Demonstrate to others what impacts technology can bring. Show to younger generation, through myself and student training, that information technology can create big value and change our lives

9 Google: Internet Search Larry Page, Co-founder and CEO, google Sergey Brin, Co-founder, google Why and who 9

10 Facebook Mark Zuckerberg: Social Network in the Internet Why and who 10

11 Whatsapp: Instant Messaging Facebook acquisition for US$19 billions in Feb 2014 Jan Koum Why and who 11

12 A Comic in USA

13 The University is a Place to Make Big Dreams

14 We not only make dreams. We build them. 只要有夢想 凡事可成真 What we imagined can be achieved HKT commercial

15 Introducing for our Next-Generation Entrepreneurs 科大夢工場 : 培育新世代創業家

16 Staff in Entrepreneurship Center Mr. Donny SIU Associate Director Mrs. Loretta TAM Associate Director Mr. Cyrus CHOI Assistant Director Miss Tracy LEUNG Assistant Manager Mr. Jack WONG Assistant Computer Officer Ms. Cartman CHAN Administrative Support & Coordination Mr. Gary FUNG Program Assistant

17 Inception: Planting an Idea in a person's Dream

18 ( 科大夢工場 ) 1. Knowledge (Broaden and deepen skillsets) Courses, projects and programs Seminars Workshops 2. Ideation (Grow and build ideas) Competitions BASE, mixers, ideation camps and visits/engagements Startup internship 3. Execution (Create value and impacts) Acceleration funds and co-working space Mentorship and advising Exposure (Investor linkage, startup conference, exposure trip, etc.)

19 Competitions Workshops Seminars Acceleration funding ENTR Courses/ Minor BASE Mentorship Investor mixer Visits

20 Curriculum and Activities: Fostering an inspiring, engaging and vibrant entrepreneurial spirit Cultivate a risk-taking value-creation mindset Discovery of pathways from ideas to impacts Sharpen skills, character and mindset Interpersonal, social and communication skills Business skills Can-do spirit: Following passions persistently by embracing uncertainties and setbacks Enhance hands-on experience and team-work Learning by doing: Group-based inter-disciplinary collaboration Design thinking: understand, observe, ideate, prototype, test and adapt (and iterate the process relentlessly) Knowledge integration and applications Experience early Start early, fail early, learn lessons early, get to know your business early.

21 Student-driven Entrepreneurship Understand, conceptualize, prototype, test and deploy Form team Kindle the passions and work on the dreams Early exposure to entrepreneurial experience and hands-on practice Identify problems and approaches early Fail fast and learn fast Empower you to dream without rules and boundaries Think big, act small and move fast Lessons Pivoting and prototyping Failure

22 Entrepreneurship is an Alternative Career Choice

23 Entrepreneurship Mindset is for Everyone Strength + humility Passion for learning and perseverance Open, welcoming all feedback Resourceful Leadership and taking initiative Delivering practical outcomes Strong communication skills Identifying and seizing opportunities Think big, act small and move fast Highly successful engineers not only are academically astute, but also possess entrepreneurial skills From a survey of business executives and managers

24 Entrepreneurship Knowledge: Seminars and Workshops Entrepreneurship practice is an irrational act Demystifying entrepreneurship to beat the odds of failures Familiarize you with the terms and conditions of starting up a company How to attract investment Financing and share structuring Market analysis Operation management, etc. Identify critical stages and activities to grow (or fold) a company From 0 to 1 (creating some completely new and viable): founding team, technology, value proposition, business plan, company registration, angel investment, etc. From 1 to infinity (in terms of company size, revenue, sales, value, etc.): business plan, share (re-)structuring, company growth, VC-A, VC-B, braches, IPO, acquisition, etc. Case studies to develop critical thinking and to understand the factors of success and failure

25 Ideation: One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition

26 Ideation: HackUST and HardUST 2017 I hope hackust can continue to thrive! Since 2014, student-led, EC co-organized and sponsored hackust 2017 : The biggest university hackathon in Asia ( 34 tertiary institutions (HK and overseas) 622 participants (Alumni & students) 485 HKUST members (78%) 92 teams 69 HKUST teams (75%) hardust 2017: The first hardware hackathon held in HKUST hackust 2017 offered me a wonderful moment and I appreciate it a lot.

27 BEST (Business, Engineering, Science Together) Camp A camp to promote entrepreneurship by mingling students from different departments Ideation, product design and prototyping skills as well as working in teams comprised with teammates with different background to work out a business plan.

28 Leapfrog Opportunities for oversea exposure Understand how oversea entrepreneurs & startups work Build connections & potential business network Explore markets for geographical expansion Explore resources & fund raising opportunities outside HK We are working with universities & incubators in different locations Korea Application Starts Tomorrow Australia Ireland Mainland (Shanghai, Tianjin, etc ) Etc

29 Idea is Cheap. Execution is Everything. Chris Sacca, Investor in Twitter & Uber

30 The BASE A Vibrant Co-working Space to Promote Student-driven Entrepreneurship A Mixer to Connect all HKUST Entrepreneurial Members

31 DreamBuilder Mentorship Program A platform to provide practical advice, mentorship and connections (to resources, customers and investors) Competitions Formation of startups Practitioners and leaders in the field In the value chain to mentor and coach students Shadowing program Alumni Investors Lawyers Entrepreneurs Etc.

32 Catalyzing Ideas to Impacts: Acceleration Funds Yeung Wing Yee Entrepreneurs Fund - Usually up to HK$50K to cover prototyping, service & product development, marketing and promotion, deployment trials, etc. - Early-stage startup company registered in HK owned by full-time HKUST students with 51% share or above - Entrepreneurship Acceleration Fund - Up to HK$20K per successful applicant - HKUST students (individual or team) with entrepreneurial ideas and plans

33 Everyone Excels in One s Own Areas

34 HKUST Entrepreneur, Anyone? assion Inspiration/Aspiration Motivation Personality Persistence/ Perseverance roblem Market Gap Unsolved Problem Unsatisfied Demand Join us echnology and Innovation Engineering Science Management Process and production Sales & Marketing

35 The entrepreneurship journey of worries and hopes Don t be a spectator: Hop in, buckle up and have fun!

36 Q&A (Gary Chan)