Gender differences in academic entrepreneurship: experience, attitudes and outcomes among NSF I-CORPS participants

PurposeExpanding access to entrepreneurship training programs can be a method to increase female involvement in technology commercialization only if these programs adequately address the specific challenges facing female faculty and graduate students. In the context of the US National Science Foundation's Innovation Corps (NSF I-Corps) program, this study examines gender differences in prior experience and attitudes towards the training in order to propose improvements to the program design.Design/methodology/approachThis quantitative study uses Pearson's Chi-Square and ANOVA tests on survey data from the I-Corps national program (n = 2,195), which enrolls faculty members, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and industry experts.FindingsIn comparison to male participants, female I-Corps participants reported less entrepreneurial experience prior to the program, poorer team relationships during the program and lower entrepreneurial intention and technology commercialization readiness at both the beginning and the end of the program. However, no gender differences were found in positive or negative perceptions of the instructional climate or perceptions of program usefulness.Originality/valueThis study is unique as it is based on a large-scale dataset drawn from sites across the United States. The results support potential changes to I-Corps and similar programs, including providing more explicit instructions for tasks with which female participants have less prior experience than males (e.g. in applying for patents), offering guidance for team interactions, and providing mentorship to assess whether low self-efficacy is leading women to underestimate the potential success of their projects.

New Technologies' Commercialization: The Roles of the Leader's Emotion and Incubation Support

New technologies, such as brain-computer interfaces technology, advanced artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and virtual reality technology, have a strong influence on our daily activities. The application and commercialization of these technologies are prevailing globally, such as distance education, health monitoring, smart home devices, and robots. However, we still know little about the roles of individual emotion and the external environment on the commercialization of these new technologies. Therefore, we focus on the emotional factor of the leader, which is their passion for work, and discuss its effect on technology commercialization. We also analyzed the moderating role of incubation support in the relationship between the leader's emotion and technology commercialization. The results contribute to the application of emotion in improving the commercialization of new technologies.

The TIPE Model for Teaching Technology-Based Entrepreneurship

It is widely believed that the technology-based entrepreneurship has great potential to increase wealth and competitiveness. Researchers believe that Technology-based Entrepreneurship Education (TEE) may raise students’ awareness about the technology entrepreneurship and the opportunities for technology commercialization. However, TEE has a relatively shorter history than conventional entrepreneurship education in business schools and there are fewer cases. This paper will use a revised 4W1H framework to review existing models of TEE and then present the TIPE model that has been implemented at a university in Hong Kong since 2001 for master students. Educational and policy implications are explored finally.

Cultivating Innovation Capacity of Undergraduates in a Technology Commercialization Academy in Midwest America

The Technology Commercialization Academy (TCA) was launched to promote the identification, assessment, and exploitation of economically viable innovations by undergraduates and retain those graduates in the southwest Indiana region. Further, as part of the I-69 Innovation Corridor initiative, the TCA was part of increasing the regional Innovation Index score 20% by 2025. Through the seven years of implementation, the program has determined that there is a crucial tool set that is necessary for new graduates entering industry, including instilling that innovation is a balance; innovation is agile; innovation must fail, pivot, and focus quickly; and lastly the program must realize its capabilities, be diverse in thought, and recognize that the personnel are key. By instilling these practices in the participants, using available programmatic information and surveys, 100% of job seekers post-graduation were employed within six months, 9% began their own startup from the program, and 64% of these high impact graduates stayed in southwest Indiana. Overall, the TCA program structure has shifted to demand side iterative processes that create long-tail value for the region and made the participants attractive hires who are keenly aware of practices to move from opportunity to execution.