Formation/Cours

At the end of the course, the student should be able to :
1) understand and know the framework of a start-up firm, a research spin-off firm and, more generally, of small and medium businesses (SMEs):
a) have learned some basic notions about technological entrepreneurship and start-up/research spin-off definition, main characteristics, problems and needs;
b) understand the actual institutional and technological environment, the role and the key characteristics of science parks, incubators, venture capitalists, business angels etc.;
c) define what is an industrial partnership, an industrial district/cluster and a business ecosystem as well as their characteristics; define the difference between formal and informal entrepreneurship networks;
2) develop and implement an economic and strategic analysis thanks to the exercise of:
a) the business model analysis of a science park or incubator (located in Europe) through the investigation of its Internet website and some grey and scientific literature about it;
b) a SWOT analysis building (starting from the analysis of the chosen science park-incubator);
3) act in the actual constantly moving economic environment (influenced by the Internet and ICTs):
a) be able to critically discuss and think over the consequences of the Internet and ICT revolution on the actual context of entrepreneurship&SMEs: virtual proximity, use of tools like e-mails and Skype are changing the way to do business and the relationships among the different actors involved, etc.;
b) be a member/founder of a start-up or be involved in an industrial project.

1) Research spin-offs and start-up firms: definitions, main characteristics, problems and needs;
2) The importance of structures linked to the territory: the relationship among research spin-offs, universities, start-ups, science parks and incubators;
3) How to choose the case-study and how to write the report (index, introduction, theoretical framework, case-study analysis; discussion and conclusions, references). Some basic concepts about business models, SWOT analysis, comparative analysis, will be provided;
4) Industrial partnerships, alliances, business ecosystems: their role and utility for research spin-off/start-up;
5) Science parks, innovation clusters, industrial districts, physical and virtual agglomeration phenomena, various forms of proximity: presentation of these concepts and active discussion with the students;
6) Formal and informal networks: their role for European SMEs. The case of French and Italian SMEs dealing in Brazil;
7) Discussion and policy suggestions about the actual role and relationships among science parks/incubators and research spin-offs/start-ups. Some reflections on networks, traditional industrial partnerships and the emerging importance of business ecosystems following the Internet and ICT revolution
8) Presentation of the various case-studies by the different students and general discussion.