Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Academic research in Europe is witnessing an important transition phase. Europe has seen an unprecedented increase in the quality of researchers trained in European countries, and yet these excellent researchers face grim employability options.

With H2020, policy makers have begun to steer research funding towards innovation. The 9th Research and Innovation European framework programme will continue this direction, taking measures to ensure that innovation is an integral factor in European research. As the number of PhD holders increases, it is critical to equip researchers with the talents, business skills, and entrepreneurial capacity to be competitive in the evolving markets.

This proposal aims at capitalizing on the shared knowledge of research consortia and institutions to facilitate the establishment of new businesses, with the oversight of experts from different fields. Participants will be trained in state-of-the-art techniques to foster their creativity, and will learn how to start and manage an innovative business. The workshop will focus on core concepts in entrepreneurial capacity building, using the approach pioneered by the Harvard Business School, that is currently used by leading Business Schools worldwide. In addition to its core components, the workshop will tailor specific elements to the customer expertise, research programme, and needs. Working in teams, Researchers will be trained to identify an entrepreneurial idea, make it profitable, improve on it, start a business, and deliver a successful product.

Key learning objectives are:

• To understand the challenges of creating a business and how to overcome them;
• To identify the risks involved in entrepreneurial endeavor and avoid typical pitfalls;
• To understand which strategies need to be followed in order to be successful in business.

The trainer, Dr. Marco Masia, is a scientist and entrepreneur. With a MSc in Chemistry and a PhD in Physics, he has worked as a Professor of Theoretical Chemistry for ten years at the University of Sassari. He has published many high impact papers (in Science, and other highly ranked journals), participated in European projects, and collaborated with diverse research teams across the world. With a Masters of Business Administration from the Frankfurt School of Business, he has founded and managed a start-up, has managed a large non-profit organization, and currently advises start-ups and SMEs. The training syllabus draws from his unique experience in research, business and entrepreneurship, and management, and is tailored specifically to researchers.