Strengthening Entrepreneurial Ecosystems To Thrive

Higher education needs to reimagine itself on an ongoing basis

By Prof Sam Robertson

When it comes to offering entrepreneurial education and opportunities on campus, it’s no longer nice to have, it’s essential for students, faculty and universities to thrive. Having a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem in place is like taking out an insurance policy that lends itself to keeping pace with everyone’s needs while working through volatility in the marketplace or other challenging disruptions. 

This creative ecosystem has the ability to network, recover and adapt faster than the larger institution. Over time, this allows the college or university to become more modern and nimble, as characteristics of entrepreneurship and innovation are infused into the culture and the curriculum. Of course it’s the barriers that must be identified and overcome when stepping into the realm of higher education innovation. Here are a few common obstacles:

The intimidation factor. There’s a serious intimidation factor for most people when it comes to entrepreneurship, and sometimes that includes a fear amongst faculty who are asked to teach it. Offering workshops, startup weeks, webinars, and other opportunities to network with outside entrepreneurs, and amongst peers with direct experience rooted in entrepreneurship, is a good place to start.

Academics need more time, flexibility and incentives to get involved in entrepreneurial and non-degree programs. One way to incentivise this is to incorporate an ‘entrepreneur-in-residence’ type model to attract innovative thinkers and accomplished business professionals to your campus with the option to participate part-time.

Money spent on student recruitment. The amount of time, money and resources universities invest in marketing and enrolment tactics has increased exponentially, reaching the multi-billions. The more strategic, long-term vision would be to reallocate and invest in forward-thinking programs that are aligned with the future of work. Steering universities towards a “follow the innovation” driven model would in turn attract more students, and employer partnerships, if they knew the programs were better aligned with in-demand jobs. Marketing the ability to help students identify and overcome the challenges of launching a business would lend itself to enrolment as well.

In terms of ecosystem formulas that work, an obvious example is Stanford University and Silicon Valley’s impressive startup scene. Six conditions have been attributed to their success: a risk-taking culture, its student body, the culture of giving back, abundant capital, collaboration with industry, and government support.

That’s a tall order, but it’s important to keep in mind that innovation and change happens incrementally over time. There’s nothing wrong with taking baby steps, it’s more about having the courage (and the capital) to start that trips people up. So, where to start?

Commercialise university research. Universities have historically not been great at successful translation of their intellectual property into something that is directly valued by industry. When a commercialisation opportunity does exist, they also often tend to undervalue this IP. There are of course the age-old philosophical debates about whether this contravenes the main purpose of what a university does. But the economic realities mean that recruitment of expertise that can both identify opportunities (often unseen by faculty) and help navigate the commercialisation process is paramount for universities. - 

Develop an entrepreneurial ecosystem around your university’s strengths. At Victoria University in Melbourne, we have Track, a sports innovation and consultancy initiative which helps organisations understand the science behind human performance. We advise national and international sports organisations like FIFA, the Australian Football League and Tennis Australia on how to train athletes to maximise performance while minimising injury risk.

Industry collaboration has become increasingly critical in order to scale competitive programs. This summer, my colleagues and I became Techstars mentors to 10 of the most promising SportsTech startups from around the world. While Covid-19 impacted initial plans, the inaugural virtual Techstars SportsTech Melbourne Accelerator was a success. VU Innovations worked swiftly with Techstars and other key stakeholders to move the program online. The startups had access to university mentors, and one of the top research facilities in the world, and VU was plugged in with global industry experts, and the resources and support needed for everyone to participate without cancellation or delays. 

The pace at which colleges and universities must reinvent themselves has undeniably sped up and will continue to do so. This should not incite panic, rather, a re-evaluation of untapped opportunities and resources. Are the people you're hiring and collaborating with looking for ways to innovate? If so, will their voices be heard? Will they believe they have permission to take risks and experiment with different approaches? Do they have room (and budget) to ideate and design? Do you have enough support from the local community and government officials? Are there more creative, cost-effective ways to get them involved?

Higher education will need to reimagine itself on an ongoing basis, taking lessons from the startup scene. Colleges and universities must become the dynamic incubators and launch pads the world needs. To get there, we have to shed the insular model entirely, and do what we can to design and redesign programs that are primed for future innovators and problem-solvers.