SCIENCE:One reservation that holds many back is the fear of failure, and this is deep-seated in our social structure, writes DICK AHLSTROM
ARE ENTREPRENEURS made or are they born? Do they just spring out of thin air to foster start-ups or do we have to beat them out of the bushes and chase them into creating new companies?
We had better find the answer quick, because our capacity to develop a smart economy may depend on it. If we don't have the innovators and the entrepreneurs to bring research discoveries to market, then our gallop towards a knowledge economy will fall at the first fence.
High-level jobs, including those in research, are not guaranteed given the weakness of the world economy, as attested by last month's job losses at Dell. We need entrepreneurs, particularly local ones, to find other ways to generate employment.
A conversation with two innovation experts, Eoin O'Neill, Trinity College Dublin's adjunct lecturer in entrepreneurship, and Alistair Fee, a visiting professor of mechanical engineering at Queen's University Belfast (better known as Professor Curious for his work in entrepreneurship training), clarified a great deal about how to find these elusive people.
It seems you can make them - or at least successfully educate them to perform like entrepreneurs. But the kind you really hope for are the ones who will go for it of their own accord and don't have to be convinced to take a chance. They just jump, hoping the water is deep enough to break their fall.
There is a process involved in the ones you make. You tell them about other scientists or engineers just like them who took the plunge and went commercial. You talk them into the idea that they can do it too - take some aspect of their research findings and turn it into a company.
You equip them with a modicum of book keeping, sales and personnel management, all good things for them to know once out in the real world. And you accommodate them in a company incubator where they can access cheap space, secretarial services and phones while they launch and grow their companies.
The real trick is to make the would-be entrepreneurs believe. Make them accept that this isn't just a pipe dream. Force them to overcome misgivings, to move out of their comfort zone and face their fears.
One reservation that holds people back is the fear of failure, and this is deep-seated within our social structure. People aren't congratulated here for having given it a go. More likely, they face being mocked for having failed, or being dismissed as an idiot for having tried.
Entrepreneurs in the US are far less likely to endure this. There, going after your dream - no matter how daft - is usually congratulated, not derided. Success is the hoped-for outcome but falling short isn't a hanging offence.
The programme runs somewhat differently when dealing with natural-born entrepreneurs. They don't need to be convinced; they already know they are going to succeed. They don't care about their detractors because they believe innately that their project is going to succeed. Failure isn't on the agenda. It isn't part of the programme.
They often lack the requisite business skills, making up for the deficit with energy and drive. They are so convinced of being on the right course that they don't even contemplate giving up, no matter how bad it gets.
Whether born or made, very few entrepreneurs will survive if the system in which they operate is not geared to help them, and the problem has nothing to do with whether there is space in the local incubation unit. The current buzz-word for it is having the right "innovation ecosystem".
If the ecosystem isn't there, the entrepreneur is much more likely to end up staring failure in the face.
The ecosystem has to be able to provide the seed money to set things up, and the money to protect and patent the intellectual property. Then you need proper venture capital funding to allow the nascent company open its doors.
You need the legislative framework to help all this happen in a low-tax, low-restriction environment geared to help things succeed. It is hard enough staying in business without having to fight the tax and legislative systems along the way.
Providing the would-be entrepreneurs and the requisite ecosystem is what the new Innovation Alliance, launched by Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin, is all about. The universities want to make it easier for innovators to go commercial.
They will be counting on Government playing its part via the innovation taskforce announced by the Taoiseach last month. It has six months to come up with ideas on how best to support wannabe entrepreneurs and help them succeed.
