TECHNOPRENEURSHIP FOR EVERYONEUIIN Entrepreneurial universities – 30/9/2014

Jolien CoenraetsGhent University

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

About Ghent UniversityFounded in 1817

11 departments

41 000+ students

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

TECHNOPRENEURSHIP

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

Technopreneurial course

Project course in which students create a product / service with

market value. The course combines prior knowledge with

entrepreneurial skills.

• Tackle real societal & economical problems

• Acquire entrepreneurial skills

• Enlighten entrepreneurial spark

• Develop early prototype

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

Become an entrepreneur

Think about being an entrepreneur

Start the entrepreneurial fire

Technopreneurial courses

Elective courses

Status student-entrepreneur

Intensive coaching

Extracurricular activities

Coaching

Dissertation subject

Extracurricular activities

Business plan courses

Entrepreneurial ecosystem

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

Technopreneurship in computer science

• Two separate courses

• Business side of software + technical side

• Theoretical approach

SoftEnterprise (9 years)

• Two separate courses

• Entrepreneurial mindset & skills

• Embedded in the course structure

Transfer to technopreneurial

course (1 year)• One mandatory

course• Embedded in the

course structure• Entrepreneurial

skills & mindset

Technopreneurial course

1st master year

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

Technopreneurship in computer science

First semester

• From idea to technical design

• Idea generation & designing

• Changing groups

• 3 ECTS credits

Second semester

• From technical design to prototype

• Development & prototyping

• Fixed group

• 6 ECTS credits

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

Out of the comfort zone teaching

• Failure

• Termination of projects

• Ambiguity

• Insecurity

• Explain complicated things in simple ways

• Work in team

• Execute a given role

• Being creative & innovative

• Take initiative

• Make your own choices

• …

Simulate real life experiences:

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

OUTCOMES & IMPACT

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

Facts & figures for 1 course10 years 575 students220 completed questionnaire 38%

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

Did this course make you think about a career as entrepreneur or intrapreneur?

No (47,73%)

Positive direct

(18,18%)

Positive indirect

(24,55%)

Negative direct (5,45%)

Negative indirect (4,09%)

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

Yes (34,55

%)

No (65,45

%)

Did another course or person at the university inspired you?

In general With positive influence (42,73%)

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

Which of the following tasks have you executed?

0 <1 1 2 to 3 4 to 5 6 to 7 8 to 9 > 100.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00% Start & run your own companyHigher managementWork for a startupResearchTeachingNew product developmentInnovation

Years of experience

% o

f peo

ple

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

Job creation

+/- 150 jobs created

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

On project levelNew technopreneurial courses (2015 – 2016): geography & bio-informatics

Technopreneurial ‘light’ course in Medicine & health dep.

Seasoned entrepreneur teaching in Bio-engineering.

Entrepreneurship will be embedded in all curricula.

Ghent University is the university with the most student entrepreneurs in Belgium.

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

LESSONS LEARNED

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

Success factors

Techno-preneurial course

Extra-curricular activitiesStudent-

entrepreneur status

Starters wallet

Elective courses

Coaching

Competitions

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

Success factors

Traditional approach

Force STEM students into business course

Technopreneurship

Add entrepreneurial sauce to prototyping course

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

Success factors

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

Challenges

1. Teaching staff needs different skillset

2. Convince professors & board members

3. Creating new courses takes time

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

Costs & funding

Ghent University

53k €

Flemish government

111k €

Site visits & best practice conferences

Teaching staff events

Two part-time employees

• Course design

• Best practices

• Student coaching

• Promoting elective courses

Two year budget

164k €

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

Sustainability & transferabilitySustainability

• Change management

• New courses are put in place

• Course manuals are written

Transferability

@ Higher education

Technopreneurship for everyone - Ghent University

CONTACT & QUESTIONSJolien Coenraets

jolien.coenraets@ugent.be

@JolienCoenraets