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Spinning out the Next Generation of Tech Entrepreneurs

By crooky | March 10, 2008

I had coffee this morning with Justine Bizzocchi from SFU’s University Industry Liaison Office and she was relating to me some of the challenges that face post-secondary institutions trying to help their students spin off companies from the university. One of the challenges is getting the right people at the undergraduate level to meet, marinade and work together on new ventures.

A report just published today on the Harvard Business Alumni page confirms that there is measurable value in incubating young entrepreneurs at a post-secondary institution and making sure they work together.

People with a higher fraction of co-workers who have been entrepreneurs are more likely to try it themselves. Moreover, peer effects substitute for an individual’s own background—those whose parents have been entrepreneurs benefit less from exposure to entrepreneurial peers.

Starting a new venture is risky business (by its nature) and universities feel pressure to help students. However, because education tends to happen in silos in the university environment, it’s taking some innovative ideas (Justine has more than a few) to get students and alumni to come together, think outside of their disciplines and get their new venture off the ground.

I am hopeful that some of SFU’s new initiatives will spin out more new ventures and create the economic ripple effects described by the Harvard studies. I’m trying to get involved with these new initiatives because I believe they are the key to our success as a region.

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Aaron “Crooky” Cruikshank is the Principal and Founder of Friuch Consulting. He has written professionally about science and technology for ten years.

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Topics: Technology |

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