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Γ.Ντάκος

Academics given lessons on getting into a business mind

By Jonathan Moules

Published: January 17 2011 09:18 | Last updated: January 17 2011 09:18

A former panellist on television’s Dragons’ Den is to re-educate academics to think more commercially, in the latest government-backed attempt to make UK universities more entrepreneurial.

Doug Richard, a serial entrepreneur, is running a series of one-day workshops to challenge professors and researchers to open their minds to the ways of making money from their ideas.

The idea is not just to push university spin-outs but to open academics to the possibilities of licensing their discoveries to large companies, collaborating with the business community, or framing research so that it has a practical use.

“What I’d like to see is a substantial change in these academics’ behaviour,” he said. “In the long term, I hope it would produce an uptick in start-ups but also increase the amount of funding to universities from new sources.”

The training events started yesterday at the University of Hertfordshire, which was voted entrepreneurial university of the year in 2010. They are being jointly funded by the Department for Business, the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship and Banco Santander.

Other venues for the workshops include Coventry University, Nottingham University and the University of Central Lancashire, although the organisers claim that others have yet to confirm.

Mark Prisk, small business minister, said it was appropriate to use formal teaching methods to get the points across about entrepreneurship to academics. “It is far more likely that they will engage at a seminar of this format,” he said, adding that it was vital to break down the perceived barriers between university and entrepreneurs.

Ian Robertson, chief executive of the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship, said: “The economic downturn and the increased competitiveness from other nations means that our universities have to deliver greater impact through their research.

“We want to help them do that in the most practical way possible.”

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