Teaching science students to identify entrepreneurial opportunities

Abstract

This dissertation describes a research project on teaching science students to identify entrepreneurial opportunities, which is a core competence for entrepreneurs that should be emphasized in education. This research consists of four studies. The first case study aims at finding design strategies for entrepreneurship education that is successful in generating new start-ups. This study resulted in five design strategies for a learning environment that includes those elements of entrepreneurship that help students to obtain entrepreneurial competences. Students must be brought into the role of problem solver, work on realistic tasks and activities as entrepreneurs do, in a working atmosphere as in a small company, with entrepreneurs as role models, and be assessed as in entrepreneurship. The second design study aims at developing design strategies for teaching opportunity identification. Three design strategies were derived from theory and built on practical knowledge of developers. The three strategies are: the use of idea generating techniques, the stimulation of conceptualization of opportunities, and the application of concepts in realistic tasks. The strategies were synthesized into a course design, implemented and evaluated. The design strategies proved to be feasible to a large extend, and showed functionality, because after the course students were able to identify entrepreneurial opportunities, as assessed by external assessors. The third study aims at evaluating the previously determined design strategies in various contexts. Expert teachers in entrepreneurship education were asked if they use these strategies, and if they use additional design strategies. The teachers confirmed their use of three strategies, and they applied these in various ways. Three additional strategies were reported: give students an incubation period in the process of opportunity identification, admit students based on an opportunity that students have to find in advance of the course, and stimulate them to find new ways of problem solving. In the fourth study, the strategies for teaching opportunity identification and the strategies for creating an authentic learning environment were combined. As for entrepreneurs, the environment is an important source of knowledge in opportunity identification, and it can be expected that this relation can be used for education. By analysis all strategies proved to be included in the course design, and the majority of strategies were fully realized in the classroom. Students’ entrepreneurial opportunities were assessed by a forum of external assessors who used criteria as in entrepreneurship. Scores of the assessors were used to determine the functionality of the course. All student groups were able to provide an opportunity with sufficient innovativeness and market potential in the eyes of the assessors. In conclusion, this research results in two sets of empirically supported design strategies. Students’ competence to identify opportunities was fostered by letting them conceptualize and apply opportunities. A learning environment with elements of entrepreneurship that are relevant for learning, contribute to the teaching of opportunity identification. The findings of this research are relevant for all educational programs in higher education that want to teach students to identify opportunities in order to create work.