Detection of Best Practices in the Field of University Entrepreneurship

BEST PRACTICES DETECTED
The following list does follow any order that may signal our opinion on the importance
of one best practice over another. It is completely random and we have made no effort
in classifying them.
1. Utilize your immediate environment resources (extend your practice further with
coordinated collaboration with other organizations related to spin-off promotion.
It is also cost effective)
2. Secure a source of Entrepreneurs (most researchers are not entrepreneurs.
Furthermore, the entrepreneur profile is in general scarce. Locate a reliable
source of entrepreneurs such as business schools or create your own
entrepreneurs through an entrepreneurship studies program)
3. Understand that new venture creation is about implementation (This is a handson
business. It’s about proactivity. It demands good project management skills.
The best plan is useless without a good implementation.)
4. The essential building blocks of a spin-off (Team, Knowledge and Capital / All
new companies need them and new venture creation can be viewed as matching
or acquisition process of a few essential elements. In a way, support staff should
act as “brokers” for these elements)
5. Avoid loosing the few valuable opportunities (communicate the importance of
NOT publishing before addressing the TTO. Also, make sure research lines and
projects are not redundant or obsolete, taking into account what is being done
outside of your institution)
6. Run the entrepreneurship center like a business (Chalmers: “we are a company
factory”. Do so independently of having considerable economic support)
7. Layout your process (understand and communicate what researchers should
know, expect and do chronologically)
8. Deliver what you claim (are you really providing the quality services that you
claim? In some cases, there may be more marketing than substance)
9. Build critical mass (be less stringent at the beginning if necessary. Also, at the
beginning your capacity to manage projects is questionable. Consider a consortia
of universities or reaching agreements with other external research organizations
like hospitals to reach a minimum number of yearly disclosures. 70-100 are
approximately needed to guarantee 3-4 new spin-offs per year)
10. Market yourself (communicating results is important)
11. Focus on comparative advantages and historical expertise of your environment
12. Cut your losses short (like any investment, reevaluate involvement at different
stages. Ask yourself if you would again invest knowing what you know now.
Have a filter evaluation on a regular basis to move each project to a major next
step)
13. Find the right product-market combination (these two elements are inseparable;
an opportunity is only real if you have both a superior applicable technology and
a market for it.)
14. Provide standard and personalized services (some processes are simple, common
and can be standardized, some cannot / same can be said about the information
entrepreneurs need)
15. Utilize industry joint-ventures (it diminishes risks, adds credibility and provides
a distribution channel into the marketplace)