NTNU School of Entrepreneurship

Background

NTNU was formed in 1996 by the merger of the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH) (1910), the College of Arts and Sciences the Museum of Natural History and Archaeology the Faculty of Medicine and the Trondheim Conservatory of Music. Prior to the 1996 merger, NTH, AVH, DMF, and VM together constituted the University of Trondheim. A group of Trondheim-based institutions including NTNU will celebrate a 250th Jubilee in 2010 to commemorate this history. The purpose of NTNU School of Entrepreneurship (NSE) is to educate future entrepreneurs by stimulating students to pursue new technological business opportunities.

Aims and targets

NTNU School of Entrepreneurship (NSE) offers highly motivated students a two-year master study in the commercialisation of technology. Students with at least three years of technological education are welcome as applicants. NTNU School of Entrepreneurship is devoted to educate future entrepreneurs / project managers of technological business opportunities (as a start up or within an existing company). The education achieves this goal by working with by combining theory with practice. Consequently, students conduct genuine innovation projects with the goal by taking part in the start up of new technology based firms.

Strategy and actions

In practice, students are given the opportunity to commercialize a technology based project – the ideas for which they develop themselves. At NTNU School of Entrepreneurship and the Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management, students have access to a broad network – in the form of an extensive research environment and contacts within industry. The NTNU School of Entrepreneurship provides students with the opportunity to realise their own ideas, or develop the ideas of others. Work is done in teams of between three and five students – each student having a different background within technology. The teams work on projects for six months with the originator(s) of the idea, or the people responsible for the further development of the research. These team members work together to ensure that the project is a commercial success.

Monitoring and evaluation

Funding/Cost effectiveness

Sustainability/Transferability

Outcomes/impacts

Achievements

The students are recruited from the third year of engineering study. 50% of the course is still directed towards engineering, but the other 50% focuses on entrepreneurship. In the entrepreneurship part of the Master, students take appropriate courses, but a substantial part of the time they are working with a business development project. This starts in the first semester. Then they look for a business idea in conjunction with the faculty staff at NTNU, or in research institutions or businesses all over the country. They are primarily looking for interesting business ideas which currently lack an entrepreneurial team. When the students have collected 20-30 ideas, they do the first screening in terms of technology, market and favourable relation to the inventors/owners of the idea. Together with a panel of experienced business people they end up with 3-5 ideas. Two to four students are teamed up around each idea.

Success factors

There is evidence that university faculty staff and other places can be a repository of inventions with interesting commercial potential, but there is often a lack of experienced entrepreneurs and teams. NTNU School of Entrepreneurship tries to meet some of that need in Norway.

Unintended impacts

Strengths and weaknesses

The international dimension in the link with Boston University adds a particular strength in terms of broadening the range of opportunities and stimulating student motivation.