Entrepreneurial Universities

1. Entrepreneurial Universities Stakeholder Engagement- summary of findings October 2016

2. Document purpose Our draft workshop findings This document captures the key outputs from the Entrepreneurial Universities workshop held on 4 October where key stakeholders included all New Zealand universities, various Government entities and businesses engaged with fostering New Zealand’s entrepreneurialism. This document consolidates what we heard in the workshop – the key success factors and themes as we further test and refine the initiative. Key insights defined what an Entrepreneurial Academic looks like, what eco-system is required for them to flourish in New Zealand and how this initiative will actively benefit New Zealand. These insights are not conclusive of the views of TEC nor determinative of the criteria or process in which the initiative will run. The findings will however shape the scope and approach for the Entrepreneurial Universities initiative as well as the requirements for the funding application process that will follow. As we continue to refine the Entrepreneurial Universities initiative, you’ll continue to be engaged and informed about the process along the way. New Zealand-wide collaboration and involvement from key stakeholders is crucial to ensuring that we can attract more of the world’s leading researchers and their teams to New Zealand to grow the pipeline of innovative start-up companies and train the next generation of entrepreneurs. Weinvite your feedback. Please send through any comments to eui@tec.govt.nz

3. Approach The Entrepreneurial Universities workshop was a unique opportunity for stakeholders to shape the request for application process This was an opportunity to participate in a unique collaborative approach to test and refine the Entrepreneurial Universities initiative. We wanted input to help shape the Request for Funding Application process before we create it to ensure we can deliver a document that gives Universities the flexibility and certainty of funding to initially engage with researchers while still being a competitive process. We saw this as an exercise to jointly design and create shared expectations of the Entrepreneurial Universities initiative, to understand success factors and look at how it can actively benefit New Zealand. While universities will recruit these world-leading entrepreneurial researchers, success will stem from connecting partners across sectors and industries, from tertiary institutions to businesses to make New Zealand an attractive and innovation-led talent pool to come to.

4. Entrepreneurial academics “You know one when you see one” – recruited on competence, skillset & passion and have the ability to connect with others to share entrepreneurship Characteristics… Has a track record History performing entrepreneurship, either as an academic or with industry experience but suitable to work in academiaand across disciplines. Someone of any age Likely to be at the start or end of their career but of any nationality, gender, and research specialty. There are a wide range of attractive profiles. Cares about social impact Driven by ‘changing the world’ to make positive impact and conscious of understanding social issues/research. With academic drive & hunger Motivated by producing research outputs and translating into commercial outcomes and societal gain. Experiential learner Courage and perseverance to pursue their idea and to take the risk of resourcing teams and funding. Opportunity recogniser / visionary Key hallmark is that they are an opportunity recogniser, with natural creativity identifying those ventures that others cannot see. Team player Don’t often work in isolation – have small specialised teams supporting them to bring vision and resources. Has a form of business acumen Understanding of business commercialisation models and/or see and understand the links between academic and commercial opportunities.

5. What success looks like We need to provide an eco-system for our academics, providing them with access to our local markets, resources & talent Critical success factors Considerations Incentives What incentives can we provide to get the academic to New Zealand and what incentives can we put around them and their team to stay – to continue to motivate them to stay in the academic game? Key costs to consider include relocation, research costs and family. Capitalise on local strengths Important to recognise where we can draw on New Zealand research specialties and strengths in industry to attract the academics. International links Academics must bring existing and embedded international networks to inform directions of research in New Zealand university departments. Success and failure We cannot filter academics based on their speciality and how naturally it lends to commercialisation. We must treat the initiative as a start-up process where we have the failures as well as the successes. We must also let the best “weird stuff in” and not be afraid of “skinning our knees.” New Zealand Inc brand – tell our story We can see this an opportunity to market the New Zealand brand and align our entrepreneurial culture. We are renown for being the perfect size to test and market out of. NZ Providing a complete ecosystem Leveraging our existing and local university and industry networks, connections and infrastructure to recruit and support the academics. Realistic in our promise We must have mutually re-enforcing relationships. We cannot over promise to the academics in what we will deliver. We must also be realistic in what we expect from our academics. What are the opportunities to innovate and be successful in New Zealand? NZ Flexibility Academics need the flexibility to accelerate the commercialisation of ideas and to connect with industry. Demonstrating value and impacts We must consider the demand side (economic value) and the supply side – academics and the knowledge they generate. Where are our quick win academics and which ones are worth investing in to incubate? i.e. when they move on or seek their next opportunity. Families Adequate support and resource for researchers families that can be guaranteed ahead of recruitment conversations.

6. Benefits to New Zealand Stimulating an innovation-led economy for our future generations How can success be measured? New economic wealth Social dividends No. start ups R&D development Collaboration between Universities, Businesses, Entrepreneurs and Govt. Value set of a sector University rankings Benefit to our industries, students and tertiary institutions Future entrepreneurs Knowledge application – the production of more entrepreneurial students within our universities to lead to start-up companies. Increased number of creators rather than inheritorsand a greater NZ entrepreneurial culture fostered. Picking the best Academic entrepreneurs should not be selected by research discipline but by picking the best people with the ability to connect with our existing infrastructure – academic & industry. We can align research to New Zealand economic strengths but also recognise that capitalising on the individual academics specialist areas will bring net new benefit and opportunity to New Zealand’s industries and universities. International ties Stronger international links with academic researchers for long term sustainability. Industry-academic connectivity & diversity Self perpetuating halo effect of industry connecting with academic for exchange of insight. Businesses could contract talent & resource from universities to reduce university resource input into the initiative. Stronger alignment of purpose across universities and industry. Reciprocal value Rich association benefit for NZ academics working with the academic entrepreneurs. Equal opportunity and exposure for academic entrepreneurs working alongside the variety of academics within the university departments to provide fresh perspective and opportunity. Innovation sustainability Increased innovation capability and performance in existing businesses, universities and start upsfor self perpetuating cycles that sustain themselves.

7. A collaborative procurement process A progressive process rather than stage gated process will give universities the freedom to recruit & the certainty of funding Critical success factors Considerations Initial checkpoints We recognise that is important to give universities a an upfront test and/or some level of pre-seed funding to allow people the “green light” to then source and engage with these high talent individuals. Knowing what we can offer them before we approach them is crucial. Terms & conditions A process which caters for those academics that are successful and for those where an exit strategy is required – i.e. to renegotiate the terms of the funding provided to them. Let the academics define the value We could allow the entrepreneurs to define the parameters of what Entrepreneurial University success looks like for them. i.e. they define what the value proposition of being brought to New Zealand is and what eco-system they require to be successful. E.g. initial 6 months pilot period & ability to bring 3 team members with them. Lessons learned There is a lot to learn from overseas initiatives who have undergone similar processes and different approaches such as Xprize – which went to the research community to solve its research needs for a pool of funding& Rutherford Discovery Challenge. Competitive process The Entrepreneurial Universities initiative should be a highly sought after opportunity with a high bar to meet Research colleagues will compare “did you make it?”. Depth v breadth The fund pool cannot be spread too thinly and an outcome could just be a limited number of universities that win bids. Sustainability Not cliff edge funding for universities but strategic plan for when researchers come to the end of funding and there is still great benefit for them in New Zealand. Universities investing heavily so want it to work. Clear on outcomes There needs to be a clear line of sight between the proposed application and how it meets the initiative outcomes and evaluation criteria.

8. Participants New Zealand’s leading universities attended the workshop and provided input alongside businesses and representatives from TEC & MBIE Further engagement We’re also consulting more broadly with businesses and international experts to ensure we capture a wide stakeholder perspective.

9. Next steps Our current time frame for the Request for Funding Application will give applicants a period of 6 weeks to complete the application process. • This timeframe is based on Audit New Zealand advice and best practice, but remains subject to ministerial approval and will be communicated to all parties as soon as it is confirmed. • Further focus groups are also being scheduled with the private sector for cross sector input into the initiative. • There will be further engagement and a formal briefing with all participants prior to the release of the Request for Application.

10. For more information Tertiary Education Commission Email eui@tec.govt.nz