Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship Suleiman K. Kassicieh Distinguished Professor and ASM Endowed Chair in Economic Development University of New Mexico
Entrepreneurship 001 & Baseline Distinguished Professor at the University of New Mexico ASM Endowed Chair of Economic Development Chair of the Finance, International, Technology Management and Entrepreneurship Department at the University of New Mexico Ph.D. (1978) in Operations Research from U of Iowa Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 2
Technology Commercialization Taught information systems and decision support at UNM from 1981 to 1994 UNM: National Science Foundation grant to UNM s Technology Innovation Program (TIP) in 1980 to 1985 (the very early days of Technology Transfer) to help commercialize technologies out of Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories Many new businesses started as a result Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 3
Technology Management Program TIP has received proceeds from sale of stock held in many of the companies started: this is the desired outcome for educational institutions started Technology Management program in 1994 Continue to work on a clinical approach to education combining technology, industry and academia to achieve desired new business formation Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 4
To complete the picture Serve on boards of small technology startups Invest in new company formation Network with international groups looking for solutions Work with companies to place students, get projects, etc. Work with government and with technology sources to help with their successful agendas Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 5
Intersection of entrepreneurship, technology and economic development Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship Kassicieh 6
Natura non facit saltum Nature makes no leaps: we need to act to make our regions better Improvement defined as better standard of living, better health, better services, better jobs, better.. Role of Innovation Computer Chips and Potato chips Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 7
Economic Development Economic development is structural change that leads to improvement in the quality of life Growth: quantitative measure of improvement such as increase in per capita income Economic development is more than growth: multi-faceted improvement in the standard of living Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 8
Typical measures of economic development Job creation: higher paying jobs Wealth creation shift to producing higher value products productivity improvement Both of these wealth creating activities result from building new businesses based on innovation and technology Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 9
Importance of Skilled Labor Importance of skilled labor: ability to solve problems and to create new products, processes and services Education plays a major role in this Entrepreneurial support is essential: learning by doing learning from failure Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 10
Other ingredients Information Infrastructure: reaching customers and partners R&D: develop new discoveries/ solve problems Capital: resources to build new businesses Management talent: helping small business become scalable Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 11
Innovation and Technology: Virtuous Cycle Investment in building innovative companies will lead to better jobs and to higher wealth creation Better jobs will lead to a higher standard of living: multiplier effect of more consumption leads to higher economic multipliers Better wealth creation leads to more investments in future innovation and technology companies Virtuous cycle repeats Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 12
Teaching Entrepreneurship in Academia: What is wrong with this picture?
Complexity Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship Kassicieh 14
Complexity 2 Kassicieh Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 15
Why do we not have more entrepreneurs? It is sometimes easier to make money in other ways (find a job in a large company, etc..) There are many personal and situational pressures on potential entrepreneurs that prevent them from taking the plunge : need to help them overcome some of these barriers Need knowledge in multiple fields: partnerships complicate things if not done properly. Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 16
What is wrong with this picture? To perfect technology entrepreneurship, you need many ingredients Team (or the person) must have have capabilities to manage product, market and financial development Each one of these require specialized skills so typically more than one person needs to undertake these activities Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 17
What is wrong with this picture? Educational institutions favor specialized fields: product development in engineering, market and financial analysis in business Joint programs is a partial solution: still trying to fit two disciplines in a short amount of university years/courses Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 18
Making of a Natural Ecosystem
Actors in technology entrepreneurship Industry: typically companies start small and develop their products and markets over time. small startups are more agile than large organizations and thus are more nimble in acting on new innovation and technology both are important for the economic development activities: jobs and wealth creation links Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 20
Actors in economic development Education: must work with industry (small and large) and government (local and national) to enhance the movement of innovation and technology into the marketplace so how do we do that? Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 21
The roles of education Training technologists to produce solutions from R&D Training business and entrepreneurial workers Work with industry to improve products, processes, services Link to small businesses in region: help them with projects Joint programs with engineering/sciences: commercialization of technology Incubation/acceleration of new technologies Other services Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 22
Higher paying jobs High technology environments with a modern technology and industrial structure define the core elements of high paying jobs Need to move the available labor in a country from unskilled or semi-skilled to skilled labor The role of education, the role of entrepreneurs and the role of government Apprenticeship models Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 23
Capital Another requirement for economic development is capital: Support for new business development while they are focused on long-term profits Capital flows to where it can make a competitive return on investments. More and more capital flows are behaving like outsourcing: venture funds, angels, development and merchant banks: typically local but that is changing fast. Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 24
Infrastructure Important for business survival in the global economy Movement of resources and goods: Transportation and Logistics Movement of information: Telecommunications Movement of knowledge: Education Movement of innovation: R&D Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 25
Government Triple Helix model focuses on interaction between industry, academia and government Successful models of technological entrepreneurship occur when all three are equal partners in this endeavor Government develops infrastructure, supports capital formation laws, provides incentives and facilitates development Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 26
Problem faced by policy makers As population grows, there are competing needs for investment that leads to development of better economics OR expenditure to take care of problems (health, welfare, support for poor portion of society) Development needs to produce better jobs if the country standard of living is to increase: Innovation and Technology can move you towards that development Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 27
Successful Innovation and Entrepreneurship For successful entrepreneurship in high technology areas, we need to have the following ingredients : Good innovative products with protection from duplication Risk/Venture Capital Managerial/Entrepreneurial Talent Product/Service Development Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 28
Triple Helix Industry, Academia and Government need to play a part in each of these: Support R&D, innovation, etc. Provide incentives to help formation of capital Encourage product development efforts Create the environment, programs, etc. for entrepreneurial activities Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 29
Building Entrepreneurial Culture
Ingredients For Tech-Based Economic Development Science & Technology (S&T): Need world class R&D organizations and innovative milieu with intellectual property to get into commercialization mode. Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 31
Ingredients For Tech-Based Economic Development Risk/Venture Capital: Need investment money as well as smart angel and VC groups to help new company formation. Money travels well : if there is a profitable deal, money will come. good deals come from good innovations, capable entrepreneurs and products that exceed customer expectations. Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 32
Ingredients For Tech-Based Economic Development Managerial/Entrepreneurial Talent: Need capable leaders to start and lead companies Literature (Drucker; Dyer, Gregerson and Christensen) says that this is something that we can learn (some of it is genetics but a lot of it is hard work and practice Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 33
Suggested Activities to enhance Economic Development Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 34
Entrepreneurial Programs Focus on technology and innovation as well as on other types of entrepreneurship Emphasis on a clinical approach: all courses work on projects dealing with a real company and a real innovation. Link to R&D organizations, university research, business community. Catalyst for starting businesses Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 35
Support for Entrepreneurial Startups Work to support startups: help them with Technology Assessments Market Forecasting/Verification: lean start-up methodologies Entrepreneurial Financial analysis Business Plans Market and Competitors Analysis Strategic Development of issues Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 36
Business Plan Competitions Students write business plans based on technology, innovation, other business ideas Mentors from business community Judges from Venture Capital, angels, banks, etc. Participants are counseled and helped to start the business: showing them the way. Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 37
Joint Programs: Business and Engineering; Business and Biomedical Sciences MS in Engineering with a concentration in Entrepreneurship and Technology Management PhD in same area Focus of MS is on creating companies Focus of PhD is on research findings that can enhance company creation Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 38
MS Programs MS in Engineering with a concentration on Entrepreneurship and Technology Management (ETM): 4 courses in ETM: hands on experience in real life commercialization projects 4 courses in one of the sub disciplines in engineering, biomedical sciences and hard science areas 2 courses to develop a business plan for a startup: UNM Business Plan Competition and other competitions Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 39
PhD Program Research methodology courses Research topics courses in engineering sub discipline Research topics courses in technology management and entrepreneurship Comprehensives and Dissertation Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 40
Metrics Companies started/supported in entrepreneurial startup Graduates placed in technology organizations Funded grants and contracts Professional contributions: journal articles, conferences Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship 41
Comments/Questions sul@unm.edu