From hackers to start-ups: Innovation commons and local entrepreneurial activity

In hacker communities, tech-savvy pioneers collect and share information on nascent technologies. The pool of information shared among users reduces uncertainty about digital technology, but, first and foremost, it reveals entrepreneurial opportunities to users in the community, which is a central tenet of innovation commons theory. In this paper, we are first to explore the role of local hackerspaces for digital entrepreneurship in German counties using cross-sectional time series data. We find that longer-lasting hackerspaces are strongly correlated with the level of digital entrepreneurship in regions, particularly in agglomerations and urban contexts.     

Communication of post-release plans in crowdfunding development initiatives: A signaling perspective

Significant research explores how developers leverage crowdfunding to attract finance for releasing digital goods. However, researchers seldom study “post-release activities” that are crucial for maintaining and advancing those goods. This article elaborates on the challenging nature of post-release activities for crowdfunding initiatives, asking how developers communicate their post-release plans to effectively prepare backers for possible changes. Using a grounded approach that connects the longitudinal history of fundraising to development to post-release, I examine initiatives that achieved impressive fundraising and development results yet varied significantly in their post-release outcomes. While they consistently signaled post-release plans, the differences are the signals’ costs, backers' reactions, and the post-release activities and outcomes. I present theoretical propositions that (1) developers benefit in the long run by combining high-cost signaling with engaging backers in follow-up conversations about post-release issues and (2) prospective backers can utilize developers' communication to identify their post-release signals. Unlike dominant research findings about signals’ impacts on mobilizing resources during fundraising, the findings emphasize signals’ post-release consequences for stakeholders. While different signaling approaches can enhance short-term performance, they also seed contrasting longer-term outcomes for developers, backers, and the industry. These findings advance knowledge on effective strategies for engaging society to build sustainable digital goods.     

Does policy influence the commercialization route? Evidence from National Institutes of Health funded scientists

The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical test of the commercialization route chosen by university scientists funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the NIH and how their chosen commercialization path is influenced by whether or not the university technology transfer office is involved. In particular, the paper identifies two routes for scientific commercialization. Scientists who select the TTO route by commercializing their research through assigning all patents to their university TTO account for 70% of NCI patenting scientists. Scientists who choose the backdoor route to commercialize their research, in that they do not assign patents to their university TTO, comprise 30% of patenting NCI scientists. The findings show a clear link between the commercialization mode and the commercialization route. Scientists choosing the backdoor route for commercialization, by not assigning patents to their university to commercialize research, tend to rely on the commercialization mode of starting a new firm. By contrast, scientists who select the TTO route by assigning their patents to the university tend to rely on the commercialization mode of licensing.     

Gamification of Entrepreneurship Education

Gamification—the use of gameplay mechanics for nongame applications—enables learning by doing, yet questions abound about its effectiveness for education. This teaching brief reports on the gamification of an entrepreneurship course using a stand‐alone gamification platform integrated with Shopify, a global e‐commerce platform for online stores. Students experienced the entire entrepreneurship process from ideation to launch of a real business and beyond. A live leaderboard allows tracking of team performance and provides a competitive element to the experiential learning. The gamification involved the creation and operation of online ventures by 269 undergraduate students during a trimester‐long undergraduate entrepreneurship course. The assessment of student learning outcomes shows that the gamified approach enhanced students’ experience, engagement, and entrepreneurial self‐efficacy. I conclude with pedagogical observations to assist instructors in implementing a gamified approach.     

创业机会识别影响因素作用机理模型的构建

本文区别于以往创业机会识别学者的认知到决策的行为过程模型和侧重某一单一因素的作用分析,在对社会网络、环境、创业者与机会识别的相互作用机理分析基础上,构建了创业过程中机会识别的影响因素作用机理模型。系统研究了影响机会识别的因素构成及这些因素对创业机会识别的作用机理。     

Showing and coding: venture pitching and nonmaterial production

ABSTRACT

This article explores practices of representation and role stabilization in an emerging innovation ecosystem in Beirut, Lebanon. With little local track record of software startup activity, any overt practices of venture or business process representation were of immediate utility. The two moments explored, a pitch session at a mentorship committee meeting and a startup founding competition, capture parts of the nascent topology of a venture development setting in the making. In both, pitches for software products were at the heart of the productive process, and this paper argues that these moments of performative representation were not surplus to the process of founding a startup, but rather are crucial productive elements in themselves. Early-stage software development consists of a constant oscillation between making and modeling. The interdependence of writing software code, stabilizing social platforms for work and industry development, and finding specialists who could relate these tasks was crucial to the development of this business ecosystem in Lebanon. It was a system in motion, built of code and confidence. The circulation of information crucial to decision making within a single project required distinct practices of publicity, which in turn required articulatory platforms.     

试论当代大学生思想政治教育与创业教育的结合

随着时代的发展和教育对象的变化,在高校的思想政治教育中引入创业教育,将是思想政治教育理念、形式、内容或载体的新尝试,也是提升现代思想政治教育实效性的必然要求,更是丰富和发展新时期高校思想政治教育的有益探索。     

大学生创业教育与政策扶持

通过调研方法研究表明,大学生创业素质的培养需要政府和高校共同努力 。创业的成功在政府一系列的政策扶持的前提下,高校也要尽力在课设置上,突出创业素质教育,为学生提供内在能力基础培养。目前的大学创业教育课程设置还存在一些问题,只有政府扶持和学校创业教育优化的有机结合,才会有效推进大学生创业成功。     

基于工作室制的双创校内实践基地建设与实践

“工作室制”教学模式在培养创新型应用人才方面发挥了重要的作用,但在培养创新创业人才方面面临一系列的挑战。以工作室制人才培养模式为基础,通过制度建设、团队建设以及资源建设,全面构建“双创”校内实践基地。以江西理工大学软件创新工作室为例,以校内创业项目为依托,阐述双创校内实践基地的建设与实践,为同类院校提供理论和实践参考。     

Broadening the resource base for entrepreneurship education through teachers' networking activities

The purpose of this paper is to examine the activities of vocational education teachers when networking in entrepreneurship education. The study examines how the background characteristics of the teachers and their participation in planning and training activities explain the level of use of external stakeholders. As a method, a linear regression analysis has been used. The data consists of 448 Finnish vocational education and training (VET) teachers.The results show that the teachers' business background or work experience does not lead to richer practices regarding utilizing different external stakeholders. However, teachers that participated in school or regional-level entrepreneurship education planning or training utilize external stakeholders significantly more than their colleagues.