Opportunity recognition in entrepreneurship education, design principles on fostering competent entrepreneurs in the science domain

Abstract

This paper is part of a research project focusing on educational design principles that should help students with a background in Science to become competent with respect to opportunity recognition in business. The recognition of business opportunities is one of the basic competencies of entrepreneurs, and therefore needs attention in entrepreneurship education. Based on existing models, theories and prior experiences we developed and implemented several design principles in a course for students in a Master of Science and Business at Utrecht University. The evaluation and analysis of the learning process and the learning outcomes showed the merits of the principles on intrinsic motivation, avoiding environmental constraints, using prior knowledge and stimulating idea generation in the teaching of opportunity recognition.