Session 3: Innovation and Entrepreneurship –
Why is it important to higher education?
Presenter: Professor Paul Cheung
Venue: RM206, Runme Shaw Building, The University of Hong Kong
Date: 31 May, 2016 (14:30 – 16:00)
1. 45—60mins Presentation
2. 15mins Guest speaker, Miles Wen shared his entrepreneurship journe
3. Q&A
Video: DreamCatchers
§ 67 speakers, more than 1,200 participants
§ Topics covered different aspects of entrepreneurship
§ A cheque for 1 million HK dollar was donated after the session
§ Message delivered: Entrepreneurial spirit is VERY important and it has a lot of relevance to how and what the university should teach students
The three “I”s (Innovation, Interdisciplinary, Internationalization) are for one final purpose: to make IMPACT
§ The impact can be on students, research, and society.
The argument is:
§ Innovation and Entrepreneurship are going to be a core part of education
§ The purpose of university education is to equip and prepare students to face the unknown and uncertain futures.
§ No longer to transfer knowledge, to pass exams, to get a degree.
§ No one can tell what the world is going to be in 10 years.
Alignment of ‘Definitions’
§ The concept of imagination: day dreaming with little or no productivity
· Thinking about things, imagine things
· Cannot always day dream
§ Creativity: something original that is put into action
· Take original imagination
· Committed to something
§ Innovation: something original, put into action that creates real value or solves a real problem for a particular purpose
· It is beyond creativity
§ Entrepreneurship: turning innovations into businesses or enterprises for social or economic benefits
· Imitation is not entrepreneurship, it is just copying e.g., setting up a coffee shop similar to other coffee shops
· Need for certain innovations
§ Entrepreneurial mind-set: an attitude to create value through challenging, practicing, and putting new idea into action
· All students need to learn and develop entrepreneurial mind-set
· All professors need to do that too
· If they do not have an entrepreneurial mindset, universities will decline and their impact will be minimized
Higher education
§ Fallacies in Higher Educations (universities)
· Professors are innovative and know how to teach students to be innovative
· Entrepreneurship cannot be taught
· University is a place of innovation
§ The reality
· Professors are out of date; students are likely to be more innovative
· Entrepreneurship is a skill, can be taught and developed
· Students care more about grades; professors focus on teaching, students’ evaluations, tenure etc.
· Universities can never teach enough: Samsung as example, new product every 3 months
§ Example - Nick Gu – HKU and MIT graduate, designer of a watch for the blind
· HKU failed to release his innovative energy
· Only when he went to MIT he found his innovative energy
Where does innovation come from?
§ Video:
§ Key words: collision, environment, hunches, chance, connectivity, combine, incubation, time, etc.
§ The key concept: the chance favors the connected mind
§ Wrong assumption: educators and students know what are the desirable outcomes
· It is hard to discover the opportunity when it comes
· The reality is lots of innovation comes from serendipity
· The ability to identify problems, to see the value of what you do, work together, and solve problems
· How people learn is the changing of the mind
Example: Faculty of Engineering
§ Over a 100 first year research students to build the research student center
§ Spend one year together in one place
§ Within the center, building an innovation space – the engineering DreamLab
§ Make things, do things outside what research is ongoing
§ Promote ‘design-thinking’, foster more exchanges
§ Need for both depth and breadth
What can students do?
§ To change mind-sets: PhD students tend to care about getting the PhD degree
§ The right student to do research should be those who are passionate about the subject
§ To grow in knowledge, wisdom, and being
§ To set goals, to have the energy to achieve the goal
§ To exercise the 70-20-10 rule: (70% on project; 20% is related to the project, but not the project; 10% completed unrelated)
§ To open themselves, their mind, their heart
§ To avoid ‘form before substance’: substance is more important than form
Introduction of programs in HK
§ DreamCatcher 100k: 1m HK dollars
§ Invite students/alumni to propose plans
§ 140 teams submit
§ Screening: reduce 140 to 60 teams; interview 60 teams; select 20 finals
§ Assign a mentor to each team, give them 3 months to develop ideas further and present to panel judges
§ 10 teams received 100K HK dollars each to start company
DreamCatchers MedTech Hackathon
§ 10 Stanford students and 30 HKU students form 8 team
§ To identify problems in practice of medicine, work out possible solution, and present to final panel judges
Video: DreamCatchers 100K
Issues we are addressing@HKU
§ Still finding ways
§ Human resources, to ensure the best energy, how to manage resources
§ Sustainability-how to sustain it
Guest Speaker
Accosys- A startup from HKU
Dr. Miles Wen, PhD in EEE
Q1. What are the 3 things you have learned that have changed you in your 7 years of study.
§ 1. Persistence/perseverance; 2. Communication skills: talkative in a way knowing how to express, how to encourage people to share thoughts. 3. Entrepreneurship.
Q2. What drives you to start up your own business rather than go to big companies?
§ Passion; Opportunity; Time
Q3. What are the most enjoyable things or most challenging things?
§ The most enjoyable thing is the most hated thing: The feeling of riding a rollercoaster goes up fast and goes down fast. It can be tough but enjoyable.
Q4. What do you hope HKU can do better in the future?
§ Education on Entrepreneurship. Being an entrepreneur is a lonely journey. People need support from fellow entrepreneurs. Things are changing and getting better now.
Last words for the session:
§ If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got. (Albert Einstein)
§ He was wrong. In 100 years, the world has changed.
§ Modified: If you always do what you always did, you cannot even get what you always got.
Q&A
Q: For developing countries, we don’t have 100K HK dollars to support students. What you might you have in mind for us?
§ Reality may be very different.
§ Developing countries have own edge
§ Lack of resources may represent good opportunity
§ It is the entrepreneurial mindset educators have to help them to develop.
§ The type of entrepreneurship depends on circumstance
§ Educators, leaders should have vision
Q: Which is the limit to discover someone that can be innovative or entrepreneurial?
§ Objective of education is not to train students to do a job, it is to train them to do any job.
§ Education is a process for students to grow in wisdom and in being.
§ Universities should be a place for students to develop their talent to the best
§ Should not predetermine where their talents lies
§ Jobs will come fewer and fewer in both developed and developing countries.
§ Creativity is not only for elite
Q: What is the mechanism to evaluate what is working and not working?
§ Matrix and key performance index are useful references
§ Vision, confidence to judge
§ TSSSU company as an example
§ Failure is another form of learning: more than 90% startups fail
Q: In what stage should university to introduce innovations to students?
· As earlier as possible
· Everybody creates something new however small it is
· The purpose of education is to change the mindset
Q: If emphasizing entrepreneurship, would everyone become entrepreneur?
· Entrepreneurial mind-set is necessary for everyone to face the future
· Most of them will fail and then become the right employees
· Asian countries went through a difficult time, but now have great advantages, value life, value survival, value opportunity and work hard
· Create new opportunities
· Balance
· Not money, not academic, but life