Entrepreneurship experts visited Israel to help scientists and researchers to recognize breakthrough ideas. 鈥嬧��
Experts from Leeds' Deming Center for Entrepreneurship visited the Weizmann Institute of Science, in Israel, to help researchers and scientists better understand the business applications of breakthrough discoveries. From left, Brad Werner, Sharon Fireman and Erick Mueller at the Weizmann workshop. Below right are scenes from workshop sessions being led by Mueller and Fireman.
If you鈥檙e in business, the word 鈥渆ntrepreneurship鈥� has many associations鈥攆ounders, startups, visionaries, people who look at problems differently and find solutions in improbable places.听
If you are more technically oriented, 鈥渆ntrepreneurship鈥� may not be in your vocabulary at all.听
And for Erick Mueller, executive director of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship at the Leeds School of Business, that鈥檚 a problem, because technical professionals are often responsible for the kinds of innovations that can be game-changers in business.听
鈥淭eaching scientists and researchers how to better recognize and evaluate ideas from an entrepreneurship lens offers huge potential for positive impact鈥攚hether that鈥檚 a breakthrough medicine, a cure to a horrible disease or better security protocols to keep kids safe online,鈥� Mueller said.听
That鈥檚 what brought the Deming Center to the Weizmann Institute of Science for a workshop in entrepreneurial thinking for staff scientists at the Rehovot, Israel, research university.听
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鈥淏ringing that innovation and entrepreneurship lens to scientists is maybe not the first community that comes to mind when thinking of our workshop participants,鈥� said Mueller, who designed the Idea to Action with his Deming Center colleague, Brad Werner. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 so much potential for these researchers to create impact that truly changes the world for the better.鈥澨�
High potential for impactful business activity
Mueller and Werner were tasked with teaching the career researchers at Weizmann鈥檚 BINA unit鈥攕hort for Bridge-Innovate-Nurture-Advance鈥攖he business side of the life-altering discoveries they already make, hoping these scientists will become more adept at recognizing the big ideas that can impact humanity, and developing them into life-changing applications.
With its high ratio of entrepreneurs and venture capital in proportion to the population, Israel is known in the tech world as 鈥渢he startup nation,鈥� making it an ideal environment to plant the CU Deming flag and offer scientists ways to identify entrepreneurial opportunities and realize their technological potential.
鈥淔rom my experience, I know ventures have the highest chance of success when you have a talented group of business as well as technical leaders,鈥� Mueller says. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 have a successful venture without those two disciplines. The cross-disciplinary nature of business creation always results in a greater chance of success.鈥�
鈥淭eaching scientists and researchers how to better recognize and evaluate ideas from an entrepreneurship lens offers huge potential for positive impact鈥�.鈥�
Erick Mueller, executive director, Deming Center for Entrepreneurship
Weizmann is mentioned alongside schools like Harvard and MIT when it comes to research, but the workshop 鈥渁imed to shift our focus from the basic science that we do in the lab towards understanding how to take our unique idea and turn it into a product,鈥� said Gili Ben Nissan, an associate staff scientist in Weizmann鈥檚 biomolecular sciences department. 鈥淲e learned the various aspects of commercialization, and we were inspired to fly with our imagination to higher grounds and realize that if we have a good idea and the ambition to make a difference, it is possible.鈥�
That鈥檚 exactly what Sharon Fireman, who heads BINA鈥檚 translational research and innovation unit, was looking for in partnering with Deming. BINA, she said, wants to 鈥渁ssist the staff scientists in expanding their knowledge in this field, expose them to basic concepts in the industry and enable them to create a network that allows collaborating on new innovative projects.鈥�
At Deming, that鈥檚 all in a day鈥檚 work.听
鈥淓ntrepreneurship is a mindset, not just a job description,鈥� Mueller said. 鈥淏y definition, entrepreneurship is solving problems in the world and empowering people to have a great life.鈥澨�
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