Universities and research centers have an important contribution to the economy in terms of education and its related activities but even more in terms of research and development. Entrepreneurial spinoffs coming out of these institutions represent a deep transformation of the economy. These companies produce state of the art technologies that are exported to international markets. At the same time, these companies employ professionals with advanced degrees and higher skills, paying higher salaries. They strategize for future expansion and invest more of their revenues on research and development. In sum, these companies produce higher yields, and exert a significant impact in social transformation, while having a relatively lower impact on polluting the local environment. Entrepreneurship flourishes better under certain circumstances that make the environment more attractive for entrepreneurs. To improve these conditions, institutions and governments promote and run programs to make entrepreneurship accessible and more attractive to students. Institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University are well known technology entrepreneurship centers, also countries such as Israel and Finland are at the vanguard of entrepreneurship. Although ecosystems cannot be transplanted, good lessons and insights can be extracted and adapted to enhance the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. This talk focuses on three topics: 1) What makes certain environments good for entrepreneurship? 2) What programs or initiatives can enrich the entrepreneurial ecosystem? and 3) How can these facilitation process be put in place?

1. UNIVERSITIES AND
ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEMS,
FOCUSING EFFORTS
Jose Sepulveda PhD., MBA
March 26th, 2013 D-ETM NUS

2. WHY ARE TECHNOLOGY
STARTUPS GOOD FOR THE
ECONOMY?

3. JOBS
• Create jobs at a higher rate
• Create jobs that pay higher salaries
• Employ higher skills

4. STRATEGY
• Plan for future expansion
• Spend more on research
• Use and produce advanced technologies

5. ECONOMIC
• Produce new products focusing on external markets
• Produce greater revenues
• Their products have a lower impact on the environment

6. BENEFITS
• The population that becomes more skilled
• Revenues from external markets come into the economy
• Products have less impact on the environment

7. EXAMPLES
• MIT - 33,600 companies founded (76%) still exist. 3.3 million
jobs. Annual worldwide revenues of $2 trillion. Equivalent to the
11th largest economy in the world.
• Stanford - 39,900 active companies. 5.4 million jobs. Annual
world revenues of $2.7 trillion. Equivalent to the 10th largest
economy in the world.
• Israel - population 7.7 million. 3,800 startups accounting for 40%
exports. Attracts more venture capital per person than any
country around the world

8. WHAT MAKES CERTAIN
ENVIRONMENTS GOOD FOR
ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

9. WHAT IS THE FOUNDATION?

10. CULTURE
• Entrepreneurs are pro business and don’t like working as
employees
• Independent characters remain unsuited for traditional jobs
• Entrepreneurial jobs can produce more returns than a regular job
• Parents in traditional jobs pressure children to find secure jobs
• Entrepreneur status vs traditional job (shame culture)
• Security of a regular job to have access to material goods (averse
risk)

11. INDIVIDUALS
• Entrepreneurial character of individuals
• Hard working and persistent
• Ability to identify opportunities
• Ability to manage and minimize risk
• Business
skills to design a detailed business plan and to be able
to modify it.

12. POLITICAL & ECONOMIC
• Political stability
• Good infrastructure (roads, power, communication)
• Legislation (ease to start a company, IP, tax) + lack of
corruption
• Purchasing capabilities (market)
• Economic power affects the market and the availability of
venture funds

13. RESOURCES
• Skilled workforce
• Physical infrastructure
• Market
• Capital

14. FROM GOOD TO GREAT

15. CREATIVITY
• Creativity replaces labour
• Creatives are the source of startup communities
• Innovators
create new products, start new companies, and
pioneer new markets

16. DIVERSITY
• Innovative economies (technology, talent, open to new ideas)
• Domain experts, intellectually receptive, ethnical diversity,
political openness
• Meritocracy system
• Homogeneous groups have no potential for change and flow

17. DENSITY
• Economies of scale
• Network effect - bigger networks give more value interaction
and sharing
• Horizontal networks, that adapt faster
• Creatives want - outdoor opportunities, new ideas, active
social scene, and other creatives

18. INCLUSIVENESS
• Inclusiveness mentality - non zero sum game
• Opposite to hierarchical leadership

19. RESULT
• High credibility attracts more funds
• Attracts more creatives and talent
• Startups are more confident and get more for their work (sell
late)
• Stock options are a currency
• Safe social support structures - “if this startup doesn’t work, there
are 50 others that will give me a job”
• Less startup credibility makes it more difficult to bring people in

20. THESE ENVIRONMENTS SHOULD GET TO A
CRITICAL MASS WHERE GROWTH AND
GRAVITY PRODUCES A CHAIN REACTION

21. HOW ARE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ENVIRONMENTS CREATED?

22. SYSTEMIC APPROACH TO
EDUCATION
• Liberal arts education - broad world view - opportunity to test
ideas and do research
• MIT motto - mens et manus. Engineering == Science
• Finland’s high standard of education geared towards solving
problems in real life
• Israel: challenge the obvious, ask questions, debate everything,
innovate

23. NETWORKING
• Stanford encourages networking across disciplines, pushing its
students to test their ideas. The local community is part of the
university.
• MIT’s student projects with local companies are part of the routine.
• Startup Sauna was started by students creating a summer of
startups.
• Israel-- where the military service is a network for life, and meetings
every year are used for business networking and creation of value.

24. REAL LIFE ENTREPRENEURIAL
EXPERIENCES
• Seasoned entrepreneurs bring experience and insights, and
provide key introductions to funders
• Fast track product design and development courses where
students imagine, prototype, build, market and sell products or
services
• LaunchPad, Creating a Startup, iPhone Development, Facebook
App class, Tech Venture Lab

25. COMPETITIONS AND
PROGRAMS
• E-Challenge, Stanford Tech Venture Program, Center for
entrepreneurial studies, D-School
• Startup Sauna, SLUSH conference
• Start-UP@Singapore, LaunchPad, Startup Weekend,
TechLaunch
• Awarenessof entrepreneurship, celebrate entrepreneurship,
promotion of startups

26. FACULTY <=> COMPANY
Faculty(
members(
Insights( Cross(pollina6on( Exper6se(
Company(
Board(

27. ALUMNI INVOLVEMENT
Alumni'
Mentors'
Advisor'' Teaching''
opportuni3es' Reten3on'of'talent' opportuni3es'
Entrepreneurship'
associa3ons'

28. SUMMARY
Growth(
services( Funding(for(
Business( interna8onal(
Development( ac8vi8es(
Entrepreneurship( Growth(and(
programs( interna8onaliza8on(
Risk(funding(
Lean(startup( Funding(for(demos(
Reinforcement( Product(
workshops( Company( and(prototypes(
of(Exper8se( development(
Market(
research(
Mentorship( Opera8ng(
environment( taxa8on(
Development(
of(exper8se(
IP(
Startup(visa(
program( Improvement( Foresight(
of(networks(

29. QUESTIONS