The venture creation approach: integrating entrepreneurial education and incubation at the university

Journal article, 2011

University entrepreneurial activity strives to deliver commercial value from university research. Entrepreneurial education, while having the same fundamental purpose, focuses on the stimulus of the individual. Recognising a gap in the literature between the fields of university entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial education, this paper proposes a venture creation approach to learning within an integrated environment. A study of Chalmers School of Entrepreneurship shows how university entrepreneurship, in the form of incubation, and entrepreneurial education, can be integrated. This integration provides both opportunities and challenges, both of which are addressed by utilising conventional problem-oriented and solution-focused learning philosophies in tandem. The venture creation approach builds upon combined learning philosophies in order to allow students to 'test the water' while reflecting upon real-life situations and explore entrepreneurial behaviours when creating new ventures. The paper concludes that actors engaged in combined entrepreneurial education and venture creation need to recognise, adapt to, and appreciate the tension and dynamics of the integrated environment.