Dr. Dr. habil. Wolfgang Runge and Prof. Dr. Stefan BräseKarlsruhe, March 2015

Special EntrepreneurshipWhy?

Institute of Organic Chemistry (IOC)

Engineering Chemical Engineering Material Sciences

Physics

Chemistry

Biology

Biotechnology

Process Engineering

Optoelectronics

Bioprocess Engineering

Biological Chemistry

Biophysics

Organic ChemistryOrganicSemiconductors

Medicinal Chemistry

Genomics

Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Metabolic Engineering

Genetic Engineering

Biochemistry

Mechanical Engineering

Biophysical Chemistry

PhysicalChemistry Polymer

Chemistry

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Discipline-OrientedTechnology Entrepreneurship

Technology Entrepreneurship refers also to technology development and management (“ideation”)

Emphasis:Generic features ofentrepreneurshipand the specificones

http://www.engeecon.com/chemistry/ http://cnasstudent.ucr.edu/majors/physics.html

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Different Addressees and Education Audience: Entrepreneurship Courses

Entrepreneurship:Much interest in courses!

Disciplines:focused on economics or business administration, computer science (software, IT);

Observation: ca. 10% from natural sciences and engineering (in courses)

Levels of audience:Majority of students(Bachelor level and slightly above)

Language: (Usually) English

But: hardware, process control; researchcomputing, supercomputing, HTS, …cheminformatics, bioinformatics, simulation;business and R&D processes

TechnologyEntrepreneurship

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Different Addressees and Education Audience: Technology → Special Entrepreneurship

Technology Entrepreneurship:Disciplines:Natural science (physics, chemistry, biology, biotechnology, …) and engineering(chemical engineering, process engineering, mechanical/electrical engineering …)

Levels of audience:graduated students close to diploma;graduates occupied with diploma/master thesis or doctoral thesis;PhD/Dr. post-docs or assistants

Language: English or German

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Orientation and Customers

Entrepreneurship:Almost only IT-related:essentially software,consumer services,Internet firms,business processesEducation (often drop-outs), hobby, obsession;academic education: any

Focus: B2C (consumers - thousand(s), millions)Emphasis:Using technology

Technology Entrepreneurship:

+ Intrapreneurship(from industry to startup)Mostly full natural science, engineering educationFocus: B2B (industrial, professional customers; very few may generate €1 bil. sales in < 10 years); B2G (“government”)Emphasis: Science, developing technology and related offerings

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The Voice of Technology Entrepreneurs

87% of NTBF * entrepreneurs believe:training for technology entrepreneurs needs to be specialized, to reflect the unique challenges of the discipline(CORDIS – Articles on Innovation. Breeding business success. http://cordis.europa.eu/aoi/article.cfm?article=835)

For NTBFs, an MBA is not a way to gain experience; it is a way to gain perspective!

*) NTBF: New Technology-Based Firm

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Key Differentiators of the Fields and Entrepreneurs

Technology Entrepreneurship:

Closely associated with technology development and management - which

influences revealing opportunities (“techno-logy trajectories”)

Funding needs often much larger (than “software”); funding more complex

Tech. Entrepreneurs Mostly required: broad and deep knowledge of the specific technical subject * (science, engineering) by education and training!Often special aspects for marketing and sales (consumers mostly not customers)

*) Favorable: also some knowledge of other disciplines

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Strategy and More – Needs to Know

Applicable also to other fields of Technology Entrepreneurship!

“A great deal of business success depends on generating new knowledge and on having the capabilities to react quickly and intelligently to this new knowledge. …I believe that strategic thinking is a necessary but overrated element of business success.

If you know how to design great motorcycle engines, I can teach you all you need to know about strategy in a few days. If you have a Ph.D. in strategy, years of labor are unlikely to give you the ability to design great new motorcycle engines.”

(Richard Rumelt (1996): California Management Review 38, 110)

THANK YOU!

Institute of Organic Chemistry (IOC)

Engineering Chemical Engineering Material Sciences

Physics

Chemistry

Biology

Biotechnology

Process Engineering

Optoelectronics

Bioprocess Engineering

Biological Chemistry

Biophysics

Organic ChemistryOrganicSemiconductors

Medicinal Chemistry

Genomics

Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Metabolic Engineering

Genetic Engineering

Biochemistry

Mechanical Engineering

Biophysical Chemistry

PhysicalChemistry Polymer

Chemistry