Exploring Entrepreneurial Opportunities in Research

6 Dec 2023, 09:00 → 7 Dec 2023, 16:30 Europe/London

Seminar Room, second floor, LIV.HUB (Liverpool Physics)

The main aim of the two-day workshop is to provide Doctoral students of the Liverpool Big Data Science Centre for Doctoral Training (LIV.DAT) and the Liverpool Centre of Doctoral Training for Innovation in Data Science (LIV.INNO) with an opportunity to identify opportunities for entrepreneurship in connection with their research and increase awareness of the potential of innovation and entrepreneurship and its practical application, helping to expand the impact of their research.  

To develop a business idea – whether in an economic or social context, you will need to apply a number of business concepts and relevant business tools to develop a business idea stemming from your research. Exploring opportunities for entrepreneurship also requires you to communicate your business idea in the market. As such, the two-day workshop will enable you to formulate your idea for introduction into the startup world.

After the workshop, you shall be able to:

• Demonstrate an understanding of entrepreneurship and opportunity recognition in a research context.
• Assess your skills and reflect on possible future impact of your research from individual, societal and organisational perspectives.
• Use entrepreneurial tools such as the business model canvas to develop a business idea stemming from your research.
• Pitch your business idea to stakeholders and or potential investors.

 

The course will be delivered by Zeineb Djebali, Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at the University of Liverpool Brett Centre for Entrepreneurship.

 

 

   

Wednesday, 6 December

09:00 → 09:30 Introductions

Each student to give a 2 minutes pitch of their research.

09:30 → 10:30 Presentation 1 - Why commercialisation in research is important? And how entrepreneurship can be used in a research context?

A considerable potential exists to use the knowledge and skills created by research in physics and data intensive science to develop commercial products and services. Hence, this session will focus on understanding how commercialization can be a powerful way of enhancing and sustaining research impact. This is followed by examining the concept of entrepreneurship -what it is and how it can be used in a research context.

Part 1: why commercialisation in research is important?
• Definition of commercialisation by ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) as well as EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)
Success Stories: Case studies:
Licensing Egrist mental health software
Creating the ReadClear App
Providing policy evaluation with CECAN LTD
https://nanoporetech.com/
https://www.displaydata.com/

Part 2: what is entrepreneurship? A working definition
• Knowledge based entrepreneurship & science commercialisation

Presentation - Day 1.pdf

10:30 → 10:45 Coffee break

10:45 → 12:30 Interactive Session 1 - Identify a business idea stemming from your research

Identify a business idea stemming from your research:
• What is your area of impact? People, organisations? Policy?
• What is your pathway to commercialisation?
• What is the potential of developing a commercial idea from your research? Insights into the problem? Potential solutions that would work?

Watch Video:
Julie Meyer ‘The Art of Entrepreneurship’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATLUouxwykM
Lessons of Steve Jobs – Guy Kawasaki https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWv-KoZnpKw

Brockhaus-RiskTakingPropensity-1980.pdf

Gartner_Who_Is_an_Entrepreneur_Is_the_Wrong_Question-2.pdf

Hayter_knowledge based entrepreneurship.pdf

Shane and Venkataraman-PromiseEntrepreneurshipField-2000.pdf

12:30 → 13:30 Lunch

13:30 → 14:30 Presentation 2 - Opportunity recognition in a research context

Opportunity recognition is one of the key foundational concepts in entrepreneurship research that explains how to detect opportunities from research that can be converted into commercial market applications. This session will focus on exploring the concept of opportunity recognition in entrepreneurship, including the antecedents that can influence the number of opportunities that can be developed and exploited.
Part 1: Opportunity recognition in entrepreneurship
Part 2: Opportunity Recognition and its antecedents
Case Study – evaluating Nanoporetech complex interaction between the academic entrepreneur, the organisation and technology.

Presentation - Opportunity recognition Day 1 PM.pdf

14:30 → 15:15 Interactive Session 2 - Building your business idea

Building on the business idea developed in interactive session (1), develop a product or a service highlighting the following:
What problem are you solving? How are you meeting customer needs?

Ardichvilli-Cardozo-Ray-A-theory-of-entrepreneurial-opportunity-identification-and-development.pdf

Baron-OpportunityRecognitionPattern-2006.pdf

Eckhardt and Shane_opportunities and entrepreneurship.pdf

park_opportunity recognition.pdf

15:15 → 15:45 Coffee break

15:45 → 16:30 Reflections & concluding remarks

Thursday, 7 December

09:00 → 10:30 Presentation 3 - Introduction to business modelling

A business model describes how organisations and start-ups create and capture value through desirability, feasibility and viability. This session will explore the fundamental blocks of the Business Model Canvas pioneered by Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010) and its application in a research context.

Introduction to business modelling
• Value creation, value delivery and value capture
Case Study: Business Model Egrist mental health software

Presentation - Day 2.pdf

10:30 → 11:30 Interactive Session 3

Identify the value of your business opportunity

11:30 → 11:45 Coffee break

11:45 → 13:00 Presentation 4 - Business planning & pitch deck

Business planning describes how start-ups aim to execute their business opportunity spanning from market entry, marketing and operational strategy, team building and financing. This session will focus on exploring the key blocks of the business plan together with the ‘pitch ‘deck’ as an opportunity to communicate your business opportunity to a number of key stakeholders within your field.

Business Planning
• Key blocks of business planning and pitch deck
Case study – example of pitch decks

13:00 → 14:00 Lunch

14:00 → 15:30 ‘Pitching’: students to pitch their business opportunity

Background Readings:
Strategyzer: Value proposition canvas explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReM1uqmVfP0
Strategyzer business model canvas explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoAOzMTLP5s
Harvard Business Review – why business models matter? https://hbr.org/2002/05/why-business-models-matter
'Aligning Desirability with Feasibility and Viability' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B00TVoRE4do&t=2s

15:30 → 16:00 Refelctions

16:00 → 16:30 Final concluding remarks