Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor
Nairi International University, Chile)
Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor
Nairi International University, Chile)
Tereshchenko Vladislav Vladimirovich
Senior Lecturer
Nairi International University, Chile)
Annotation.
This article presents a model for the development of technological entrepreneurship at Nairi International University. An integrated approach to creating a university ecosystem of innovations is considered, including the stages of popularization of entrepreneurship, support for startups through an expert council, training at the higher school of technological entrepreneurship and international internationalization of projects. The main levels of involvement of students and staff, the activities of acceleration programs, as well as partnerships with industrial enterprises are described. The model aims to create a sustainable innovation environment that promotes the commercialization of scientific research and the development of technology startups both nationally and internationally.
Keywords: Technological entrepreneurship, models, competencies, innovations
Introduction.
The development of technological entrepreneurship in universities is one of the key factors of innovative progress and economic growth. Globally, universities play an important role in shaping entrepreneurial ecosystems that facilitate the generation and commercialization of innovative ideas. Scientifically based models of university entrepreneurship development help to create a favorable environment for the interaction of scientific research, educational programs and business.
In global and regional practice, there are a number of models describing the development of university startup ecosystems. The classical model is the "three spirals" [3], which assumes the interaction of the university, business and the state as the basis of innovative development [2]. Within the framework of this model, the university acts not only as an educational institution, but also as an active participant in the innovation process, initiating and supporting entrepreneurial projects.
Research also focuses on the importance of forming intra-university structures, such as business incubators, accelerators, and technology transfer centers, providing support to startups at various stages [1]. The university ecosystems of the USA, Germany and South Korea, which actively integrate educational entrepreneurship programs with research and commercial activities, stand out as an example of successful national practice.
The model of university technological entrepreneurship development at Nairi International University is based on an integrated approach, including educational innovations, scientific and practical support for startups and industrial partnership.[7]
The scientific novelty of this research lies in the integration of several levels of support for innovative projects at the university, from involving students and teachers in entrepreneurial activities to international cooperation with foreign accelerators and investors. This approach ensures the sustainable development of technology startups and their competitiveness in national and global markets.
Thus, the analysis of modern theoretical and practical models of university entrepreneurship shows the need for a systematic and multi-level approach adapted to regional and national conditions. This research represents a contribution to the development of this field, offering practical recommendations for improving the university ecosystem of technological entrepreneurship.
The results of the study and their discussion. The analysis of the university's technological entrepreneurship development model at NIU has shown the existence of end-to-end support for entrepreneurial initiatives of university students and graduate students.
This practice is aimed at creating an ecosystem of technological innovations that supports the emergence and development of innovative ideas, projects and technology startups, and is focused on the development of both small and large innovative enterprises in national and international markets [5,9].
The Higher School of Technological Entrepreneurship is the scientific and coordinating center for the development of technological entrepreneurship at the university, actively participates in the development of the ecosystem of technological entrepreneurship.
The ecosystem includes the following structures and activities that help students get to know entrepreneurship, develop the necessary skills, and implement their own projects, as well as create a portfolio of projects in which the student has participated.
The model includes 4 levels of involvement of university students and staff in entrepreneurship (NIU Entrepreneurship funnel).
Level 1. Popularization of technological entrepreneurship
Level 2. Development
Level 3. Scaling / Professional training in technological entrepreneurship
Level 4. Internationalization
We will show the results of the analysis of each level in more detail.
Level 1. All university students participate in these events.
The purpose of university–wide educational events is to develop students' basic soft skills necessary for entrepreneurial activity, as well as project management skills.
Among the key elements of this stage are:
- all university students in their second year must complete the course "Fundamentals of Project activity";
- within the framework of the main educational programs, students (elective degrees) are offered to complete the self-development module "Personal Effectiveness";
- participation in introductory trainings on entrepreneurial competencies. The purpose of the trainings is to introduce students to technological entrepreneurship, develop several key skills, and identify students with leadership and entrepreneurial qualities. 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students can participate.
- regular meetings with entrepreneurs and masterclasses at the NIU Innovation Hub.
Level 2. Students participate, as well as participants in various competitive programs and accelerators.
The NIU Expert Council for assessing the development of student startups and their preparation for startup defense provides assistance and support to students during startup preparation. The organization of the work of the ES is supervised by an employee of NIU. The Expert Council is a university–wide body through which students of all institutes pass if they plan to defend their final qualifying work as part of the national initiative to support student startups. The EC meets 2 times a year to evaluate projects. The members of the EC are representatives of the university and industry (at least 50% of the EC members are external experts). Thus, industry representatives are involved in the training of specialists in this area.
The advanced training course "Entrepreneurship in the Digital World" is offered in the format of additional educational programs.
Methodological support is provided to students participating in various entrepreneurship-related competitions, such as the International Startup Initiative (ISI) and others. within the framework of NIU activities
Entrepreneurship Center. Teams ready to develop their startups turn to the Entrepreneurship Center (EC).
The opportunity is provided to participate in acceleration programs of technological projects both within the framework of federal grant projects and in corporate ones with industrial partners.
Teams ready to develop their startups turn to the Entrepreneurship Center [10]. The Center's goal is to develop promising innovation projects in the field of advanced manufacturing technologies, create conditions for the commercialization of technological developments and the creation of start-ups by NIU employees, students and graduate students, as well as provide consulting services in the innovation field.
As part of their activities, EC employees solve the following tasks:
- The purpose of the Entrepreneurship Center is to develop promising innovative projects;
- development of a system for commercializing the results of scientific activities of NIU staff, including in the framework of international projects and programs;
- actively contributing to the creation and development of high-tech business projects through training and assistance in attracting the missing intellectual, technical, and financial resources necessary for the development of projects;
- preparation of technical and business projects for their subsequent presentation at exhibitions, conferences, etc.;
- identifying talented students and university staff and giving them priority opportunities to implement their technical ideas;
- popularization of technical creativity among young people and formation of an expert community;
- marketing and commercialization of innovative research and development results of the University;
- involvement of NIU specialists and staff to conduct technological audits and consultations of startups participating in the organized acceleration programs.
The NIU Startup Platform Entrepreneurship Center organizes acceleration programs.
Level 3. Advanced training for entrepreneurs
Training of specialists in the specialized Master's degree in technological entrepreneurship at NIU.
The school is a bridge between science and business, training professionals capable of managing high-tech industries and commercializing cutting-edge scientific developments, as well as creating infrastructure to ensure continuous innovation in companies.
The Graduate School of Technological Entrepreneurship is essentially a business school within the NIU Advanced Engineering Center Digital Engineering Lab.
The school offers a master's degree program in entrepreneurship, as well as a wide range of additional educational programs.
Trains the following specialists:
1. Serial technology entrepreneurs;
2. Intra-company entrepreneurs who are responsible for the development of innovative project processes in large companies (including digital transformation).
Key features of the educational process
Only master's degree programs are implemented at the school. There are no restrictions in terms of basic education (bachelor's degree), but it would be preferable for a student to have a basic technical or natural science education.
During their studies, students are given the opportunity to create and develop their own project, which may become the basis of their own business in the future. Graduation work is carried out in the format of a technology startup or a research project.
Students gain teamwork skills on real business tasks in conditions of business risks, instability and uncertainty. At the end of their studies, the masters present a portfolio of completed projects or a startup ready to launch.
The educational process uses the "inverted classroom" model and learning through action. From the first semester, students begin to work in interdisciplinary teams together with engineering students in the Digital Engineering Lab on the implementation of frontier tasks set by industrial partners. In this project, students of the Higher School of Technological Entrepreneurship gain knowledge-based project management skills under the guidance of teachers and mentors, including from an industrial partner.
At the end of the second semester, undergraduates must choose an educational track, namely:
-Technological entrepreneurship, that is, the development of your own project;
-Intra-company entrepreneurship - the development of innovative activities within an existing company, as well as participation in digital transformation.
Compulsory participation of students in the specialized fields of Technological Entrepreneurship and Technological Leadership and Entrepreneurship in acceleration programs and joint projects aimed at solving industrial problems within the framework of the Global Digital Engineering Center.
NIU Entrepreneurship Center's initiative projects involve the creation, development, capitalization increase, and sale of its stake in startups created to meet the promising needs of NIU's industrial partners, based on an analysis of market trends. At the same time, research can be funded at an early stage by attracting extra-budgetary funds.
The EC (Entrepreneurship Center) forms project teams from students, staff, and engaged experts. Startups are accelerated in university programs and can pilot their developments at enterprises. Startups are focused on global markets.
Level 4. Work with projects, including those obtained under the EC, in order to bring them to the international market.
One of the significant tools of this stage is the NIU International Accelerator.
The purpose of the accelerator is to select and develop projects for their subsequent submission to the largest accelerators in the USA, Mexico or EU countries. Expert support of projects regarding the analysis of international markets and protection of intellectual property rights is provided.
The scientific and practical activities of this stage include conducting research in the following areas: technological (knowledge-based) entrepreneurship; creation and management of knowledge-based industries; innovation; the use of advanced digital technologies in business; digital transformation; ways to activate creative thinking in relation to engineering tasks. Research and consulting services are also provided to industrial enterprises. At the same time, the departure from intra-university and interuniversity competition towards Creation and Cooperation is carried out through the creation and development of a Consortium for the development of university technical education [6].
Thus, the overall goal of the university's technological entrepreneurship development model is to create an end—to-end sustainable innovation environment that unites education, science and business, promotes the generation and implementation of technological start-ups, and trains specialists capable of entrepreneurship in knowledge-intensive industries and digital transformation.
The use of digital simulators to support the model of technological entrepreneurship. An additional component of the implementation of the technological entrepreneurship development model at the university is the use of digital simulators. These simulators are used in educational programs of various levels of training and provide practice-oriented development of managerial, engineering and entrepreneurial competencies in a controlled virtual environment.
The Lean Manufacturing digital online simulator is a simulation tool that allows students to analyze production processes, identify and classify losses, develop flow mapping skills, apply standardization, balancing, workplace organization, and continuous improvement methods. The simulator's structure includes a set of analytical forms and practical tasks that enable the repeated reproduction of management decisions and analysis of their consequences without risk to the real production process.
You can watch a video about this simulator on the NIU YouTube channel 👉 here
The New Industrial Challenge digital online team simulator simulates the value chain of a high—tech product, from the stages of market requirements analysis and design to production planning and supply chain management. Its use contributes to the development of skills in strategic choice, team interaction, system analysis and practical project management in conditions of uncertainty. The simulator is used both in the framework of basic educational programs and in additional professional training.
You can watch a video about this simulator on the NIU YouTube channel 👉 here
The integration of simulators into the educational process enhances all levels of the technological entrepreneurship development model: It helps to increase involvement at the initial level, form analytical competencies at the development stage, support practice-oriented training in the master's degree, as well as create prerequisites for the internationalization of projects. The use of digital simulation solutions forms a unified space for practical training, reduces the risks of design errors and improves the quality of training for future technology entrepreneurs. [8]
Due to the full integration of TA into the educational process, including the defense of diplomas in the startup format, the model builds a continuous practice-oriented trajectory from an idea (from the level of schoolchildren) to scaling through direct interaction with industry and venture funds. This turns NIU into a single ecosystem where students at different stages of study can create projects with market potential.
List of sources used
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2. Etzkowitz H. The Triple Helix: University–Industry–Government Innovation in Action / H. Etzkowitz. — New York: Routledge, 2008. — 160 p.
3. Guerrero M., Urbano D., Cunningham J.A. An intention-based model of entrepreneurial universities – Evidence from a developing country / M. Guerrero, D. Urbano, J.A. Cunningham // Technological Forecasting and Social Change. — 2016. — Vol. 102. — P. 45–50.
4. Efimov A.M. Support for small innovative businesses in the mechanical engineering industry // Modern Engineering. 2014. No. P. 922-933.
5. Management of an innovative university project. Efimov A.M., University Innovation Project Management: Textbook, NIU Press, 2024
6. Sustainable Innovation Development. Proceedings of the III International Conference on Innovation and Technology
7. NIU Computer Simulators on the Digital Platform for Competence Training and Assessment, Nairi International University, 2024.
8. Gavrilov D.A., Kireev A.G., Tereshchenko V.V. Building Technological Sovereignty for Sustainable Industrial Development // Marketing in the New Reality: a monograph, 2024. P. 285-292.