Listen to Dr Olga Kozlova's BBC Radio Scotland interview HERE.
Scotland’s universities have an opportunity to play a leading role in developing a dynamic new generation of entrepreneurs.
This is a key finding in a Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE), study published under the auspices of its Business Innovation Forum. Mindful that achieving the Scottish Government’s vision to become a ‘world-leading entrepreneurial nation’ will largely depend on the mind-set and skills of its future workforce, members of the Forum have been examining the current delivery of entrepreneurial education.
Led by Dr Olga Kozlova, director of Converge Challenge, a leading Scottish business creation competition, members of the Forum met with a number of stakeholders from Scotland’s entrepreneurial and education sectors to discuss how young people are currently exposed to and equipped with enterprise and entrepreneurship skills.
Dr Kozlova said, “The Scottish Government’s ambitious vision for the nation’s entrepreneurial future is welcome, but concerted effort will be needed if we are to see progress in the rates of business creation and research commercialisation across the country. A coordinated approach which taps into the great potential held by Scotland’s universities will ensure that we gain maximum impact.”
The paper sets out an encouraging picture, recognising that advances have been made in providing students with opportunities to develop enterprise awareness and take the next steps towards venture creation. But more could, and must be done if Scotland is to truly foster an entrepreneurial mind-set across the next generation.
A number of recommendations relate to the specific role that Scotland’s universities can play to address remaining gaps in the delivery of entrepreneurial education. These include employing more teaching staff with practical experience of industry and entrepreneurship; supporting lecturers to increase their own industry awareness and capacity to introduce enterprise skills into courses, and establishing of a network of Enterprise Champions and a dedicated entrepreneurial strategy for each university.
Universities cannot act in isolation. Scotland already benefits from a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem that draws on the expertise, experience and support of research funding bodies, two national enterprise agencies and a broad range of business support bodies, networks and incubators.
In order to gain maximum benefit from the huge volume of activity undertaken by these bodies, the RSE recommends the establishment of an Entrepreneurship Education Forum that would bring together high-level representatives of academic institutions, private and public business support organisations and industry practitioners. This Forum would oversee a comprehensive and coordinated programme of entrepreneurial education in Scotland. Such a body would require strong endorsement from the Scottish Government and the support of the Scottish Funding Council to be effective.
Chair of the RSE Business Innovation Forum and successful software entrepreneur, Ian Ritchie CBE, said, “A world-leading entrepreneurial nation will depend on a number of building blocks from strong support networks and an international outlook to innovative finance streams. But most of all it will depend on its ability to produce people with the ambition, vision, creativity, commitment and leadership capacity to drive venture creation and growth on a scale that will contribute to sustainable economic growth. Universities are in a uniquely powerful position to support Scotland’s young people to develop an entrepreneurial mind-set and the ability to realise their ambition”.
