Strengthening the role of economic universities to boost up innovative startup

Nội dung text: Strengthening the role of economic universities to boost up innovative startup

1. STRENGTHENING THE ROLE OF ECONOMIC UNIVERSITIES TO BOOST UP INNOVATIVE STARTUP Nguyen Quang Sang*1 - Nguyen Linh Phuong 2 ABSTRACT: Undoubtedly, it is manufacturing, through the Industry 4.0 concept, that is moving to the next phase of digitalization Industry 4.0 by innovative technologies such as Internet of Things, Cloud technology, Augmented and Virtual Reality, and so on. Moreover, it will certainly play an important role in manufacturing education, stimulating advanced life-long training of the skilled workforce. As regards of advanced education which is so called Education 4.0, and networked ecosystems, it will enhance various skills in reality and build competences for the new era of manufacturing. In fact, due to the progress of technology with a wide range of innovation such as smart boards, advanced projectors, etc, they are helpful in making education become easier and more convenient for both lecturers and learners. Towards that, this study will illustrate what methods should be utilized to upgrade the role of universities in escalating innovative startup and bring more sustainable development for different societies. Key words: innovatie, startups, role of economic universities 1. INTRODUCTION In the trend of globalization, it is the fact that trade liberalization and the fourth wave of industrial revolution have dramatic effects on all aspects of socio-economic life. Furthermore, the role of technology and innovation has become increasingly important to promote productivity growth, quality growth and economic competitiveness. In 2016, the number of newly established enterprises in Vietnam increased by more than 110,000 enterprises and the size of capital increased by 48%. In 2017 there are more than 105,000 newly established enterprises, of which 97% generate revenue and pay taxes. Apparently, this is a good indicator of economic prosperity as the number of businesses enhances, which creates more employment opportunities and new products, services for the society. In addition, in 2017, Vietnam upgraded 15 levels in the global competitive index, and14 levels in the global innovation index. This is the result of reforms in research funding, university autonomy, and commercialization of research results, including technology transfer centers. However, the current system of scientific research and innovation of Vietnam generally focuses only on creating new knowledge through research projects in schools and institutes with little effort in putting knowledges into social life, production and businesses. Moreover, instead of educating students to become risk takers to experiment with new and innovative ideas and become job creators, not just job seekers; many * Business Administration Faculty, Academy of Finance, Hanoi, Vietnam. Business Administration Faculty, Academy of Finance, Hanoi, Vietnam, Tác giả nhận phản hồi: Nguyen Linh Phuong . Tel.: +84948380189, E-mail address: linhphuongcva@gmail.com
2. 116 HỘI THẢO KHOA HỌC QUỐC TẾ KHỞI NGHIỆP ĐỔI MỚI SÁNG TẠO QUỐC GIA universities believe that their main mission is only to train students so that when they graduate they will be able to get jobs. As a result, this research paper aims at suggesting some methods to enhance the role of universities in boosting up innovative startup. 2. Methodology In the scrutiny’s practical part, qualitative research method is used in thisresearch. Hence, as regards of data collection, the author decided to utilize secondary data for this study. Apparently Secondary data also called second hand data include material and information collected by personal or a group of person. (Wang 2008, 35). Secondary data could be everything from annual reports, promotional material, documentation, magazines, newspapers, internet resources, etc. The secondary data which was mentioned in this research was selected from literature related to business, startups, completed thesis works, lectures and various internet sources such as Google books, articles, websites, and so on, providing important references to support the content. 3. Role of universities, especially Economics Universities in promoting innovative startups Undoubtedly, the environment and community of a university are not only conductive to creation and discovery but also the drivers of innovation. It is considered one of the critical tools to enhance innovation in various companies and institutions. In other words, it is regarded as seeds for future innovations. Moreover, it can not be denied that universities are places where discovery, invention and learning happen without constraints. In other words, universities, often situated at the center of innovative clusters, are believed to be important drivers of local economic growth. Indeed, it is unconstrained by the ticking clock to show value to the next round of venture capital funding, unconstrained by the need to create something that can quickly be sold to, or used by, millions of people. Tom Clynes, a science journalist, recently wrote in the New York Times “We don’t have enough of the desperately needed inventions — nuclear fusion energy or cancer cures — that emerge when credentialed scientists tinker away for years on expensive machines that have nothing to do with Snapchat. Of course, this sort of tinkering most often happens in academic institutions.” Moreover, Vu Tuan Anh, Head of the Hoasen Group Community Initiative, said, “As long as lecturers and researchers of universities in Vietnam are not yet involved in the commercialization of their scientific research products, our ecosystem of startups will not be really sustainable and create high value for society. “ There is no doubt that new graduates are considered to be an abundant source of human resources for startups. Each year our country has about 400,000 graduates. However, 225,500 students are not able to find a job while there are about 1,500 startup businesses in Vietnam. It is the fact that the human resource has not met the expectations and requirements for potential development from those organizations. For example, at FPT University, learners often determine their goal or destination as owners of businesses, which brings precious values to society. Moreover, they know what they need to learn for training, and accumulate those knowledge during the whole 4 years in university. Therefore, according to the latest survey of FPT University, 98% of FPT University students have jobs after graduation, 19% of students work in foreign countries, in developed countries and up to 5% starts up. “In fact, successful starters are always learning, willing to learn and work around the clock. They are great thinkers, dream big but save every small result, “said Le Truong Tung - Chairman of the Board of FPT University. Nguyen Viet Hung, who was just a second-year student, started his career over a year ago. He built a graphic design training system with a turnover of over 200 million dong which attracts hundreds of
3. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE STARTUP AND INNOVATION NATION 117 students every month. Hung pursued the model of education by passion for painting, and designing from his childhood. The model was greatly influenced from the environment of FPT University where Hung is studying. Among the hundreds of thousands of other graphic design classes, Hung creates added value to his product according to its good price, the principle curriculum that emphasizes the application, and aims at customers who are mainly students. Apparently, it is Industry 4.0 era that is gradually finding its way of application on the current manufacturing systems, while more and more studies are paying attention to possible future integrations. Furthermore, the progressive enrichment of the university identity as generating opportunities for innovative forms of entrepreneurship - a phenomenon called entrepreneurial university - has adjusted the socio- economic role of universities in many urban/metro area (Etzkowitz, 2004). In fact, the creation of spin-off firms is considered a helpful method to build up a central tool for the commercialization of the knowledge/ technologies therein generated and, therefore, sustaining innovative activities. 4. EXPERIENCES FROM STARTUP CASES IN THE WORLD 4.1. United States In the United States, between the 1970s and the mid-2000s, there were 500,000 to 600,000 new opened businesses each year and the emergence of powerful corporations made the US economy boom. What made this development of America? Initially, there are many factors that make America flourish. Nonetheless, the American entrepreneurial spirit and the important role of the university are regarded as two of the determining factors. Policy-makers in the United States contend that universities play an important role in developing the regional economy and promoting entrepreneurship. For instance, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Valley is an indispensable factor in promoting industry in Boston and Stanford University in the Silicon Valley. On the subject of Curriculum: US universities have developed a series of startup courses. The courses are divided into three categories: (1) an introductory course on business planning; (2) courses that are closely related to stages of the business life cycle; (3) business functions courses that cover management issues (eg entrepreneurial characteristics, innovation management, team building), finance, accounting and tax, law and marketing. Thirdly, American universities often provide two types of extracurricular activities to bring in more in-depth exploration opportunities, such as student clubs and demonstration series to increase access to startups; various activities to upgrade practical experiences such as business planning contests and internship to encourage further development of entrepreneurial skills As regards of lecturers: Universities in the United States employ full-time lecturers for startup training curriculums although there is a high proportion of teaching assistants who teach entrepreneurship, even in some prevalent business schools in the US. - In respect to funding: In the United States, education and training receive financial support from outside sources such as successful entrepreneurs and foundations, as well as from the government. In reality, many universities have established startup centers which are mostly provided by successful entrepreneurs who have graduated from those institutions. In terms of the connection between universities and industry, the cooperation with industry area is often considered the strength of American universities. In reality, the collaboration between industry and universities manifests itself in many forms. According to the National Science Foundation (NSF), there are four areas of university-industry cooperation: research, research collaboration, knowledge transfer and technology transfer.
4. 118 HỘI THẢO KHOA HỌC QUỐC TẾ KHỞI NGHIỆP ĐỔI MỚI SÁNG TẠO QUỐC GIA Moreover, increase in the number of startup institutions has deepened the priniciple knowledges of startups. Masters and other postgraduate programs have gone in two directions: On the one hand, postgraduate programs now tend to offer course groups related to the field of entrepreneurship; On the other hand, due to the availability of specific startup program, students are now able to graduate with a startup degree. Universities in USA also connect a lifestyle and startup culture directly with some startup training programs such as the McGuire Startup Program, the Training Entrepreneurship Training Program for Business Entrepreneurs, and so on. Especially, Growing America through Entrepreneurship Project was approved with an annual budget worthing 200000 USD, and Women’s Training Women for Success Program. There is no doubt that an indispensable element for enhancing the competitiveness and motivation for education in the United States is the evaluation and ranking of university-based startups launched by Success Magazine in 1995. The appraisal is based on some criterias including faculty qualifications, the variety and depth of the entrepreneurial startup program, academic standards together with student scores, and resources’ quality. 4.2. Founder Institute Taking the focus on the business startup ecosystem, Founder Institute builds a model that follows three major stages of innovation. Accordingly, universities play an important role in all three key stages: Formation of ideas; product development and growth. In the first stage, universities- lecturers particularly and facilitators which acts as inspirational persons, should provide information, introduce examples of success, suppot team development by promoting inter- disciplinary collaboration among students. When businesses have products, services, universities need to provide principle knowledge of business such as law, tax, accounting, etc, and even some supports that are related to workplaces for startup founders. For the third stage when ecosystems have many well-established startups, universities should play a pioneering role in providing business talents, human resources with high quality of logial thinking, useful skills and experiences for sustainable growth. As a result, universities will not only be able to equip students with skills, knowledge and experiences to be ready to do startup when having a truly renovative direction but also execute their role perfectly in providing human resources with high quality for society. If the university role model in the economy emphasizes the internal force of universities to innovate, the approach to the university’s role in the startup ecosystem suggests that the effect when bringing products and services from universities to the outside and commercialization. While the first approach pointed out that in order to better deliver their products to outside, universities need to foster innovation and cooperate with the private sector, the second approach insists on the role of universities in inspiring, supporting the evaluation of ideas and building team development. Both approaches exemplify the key roles of universities in innovation and doing startup: (1) entrepreneurial spirit and inspiration; providing human resources with high quality (2) Cooperate with businessé and capture market demand. 4.3 Germany Taking example of Germany, in an analysis of why, at the centre of Europe, it is considered one of the most innovative countries. Hence, what does Germany learn from Silicon Valley? One of the answers was: “At Stanford, no economics professor does not take part in the economic field. They can start a self- startup or join as advisors.” Reflecting on Vietnam, the loose connection between universities and the
5. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE STARTUP AND INNOVATION NATION 119 market is making lectuerers - the important bridge between universities and businesses - lack of practical connections. In fact, only few of them are involved simultaneously in both teaching and doing business or startup consultancy. The majority of other lecturers just have general business knowledge. As a consequence, it is difficult for universities and those teachers to provide good orientation for students on practical issues related to business field. Due to the lack of interaction with markets and practical businesses, the inspirations of lecturers to students for starting a career and supporting the connection of various resources so that interesting business ideas of students can grow further, is not highly appraised. Additionally, improvement of curriculums is slow, which push universities and lecturers into the situation of not having” a common language with business market”. For example, streamlined startups which were trained in many universities worldwide are now scattered into a number of universities in Vietnam from initial efforts of the Viet Nam-Finland Innovation Partnership (IPP). 4.4. Thailand It can not be denied that Thailand government plays an important role in setting up national research universities to increase research output in some key areas of national competitiveness. The Board of Education has selected top nine prestiguosly research universities to improve research capabilities, encourage research production including Chulalongkorn University, Thammasat University, Mahidol University, etc. In addition, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has set up a Digital Economy Fund to support startups, specifically in the field of technology. The Ministry also has contacted with other universities such as Sripatum King Monkut, Lat Krabang Institute of Technology to set up “Digital Nursery” for promoting such industries as tourism, robotics, health and creative industries. Furthermore, the purposes of this action are to research startups and commercialize products. Apparently, technological startups are expected to create a new wave for Thailand’s digital economy. In recent years, Thailand has achieved some successes when Thailand government together with Education Ministry’s Education Commission have launched policies on innovation and establishment of business incubators in universities (UBIs - University Business Incubators). This action’s goal is to encourage the widespread use of research as well as intellectual property rights. UBIs are developed under the linkage between universities and industry to improve the commercialization process. What is more? Thailand is planning to set up “Startup Zone” in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and other provinces across the country. Most recently, the Thai government has also spent 2.5 billion Baths on a budget of $ 190 billion this fiscal year (the fiscal system is government-financed, usually planned and implemented full in one year) to help 27 universities expand their research projects for commercial purposes. This activity is part of the effort to accelarate the “Thailand 4.0” policy, which focuses on promoting the creation and development of advanced industries that move the economy away from the middle income trap. This will certainlt stimulate universities to cooperate instead of competing with each other like previous days.
6. 120 HỘI THẢO KHOA HỌC QUỐC TẾ KHỞI NGHIỆP ĐỔI MỚI SÁNG TẠO QUỐC GIA Figure 1: Thailand 4.0 model 5. RECOMMENDATIONS In order for students to get jobs after graduation, the training should not only aim at jobs that available in society. When the market does not develop rapidly, jobs are limited, while graduates are added to the labor market, which leads to over-supply. As a result, the future training process of universities should focus on training students to do startup which not only creates jobs for themselves but also creates more jobs for others. Absolutely, this is one of the fundamental differences between higher education and vocational education. Vocational education aims at training human resources to meet specific job positions, while higher education pay attention to train people who are capable of starting a new business. At that time, a graduate student will not only occupy other people’s jobs but also create more new jobs. From this fact, it is suggested that Vietnamese government should redirect the approach to college education to handle unemployment problem scrutinizingly for students after graduation. With the aim of tackling the above problems, scientific research activities in the training process must be strengthened. For a long time, training purpise has not focused mainly on startup. Hence, the role of doing scientific research of students has not been noticed. Now it must change since taking part in doing scientific research will build up for student the creativity, creative thinking skill, the ability to discover new things, active behavior in the intellectual activities. All of those characteristics will certainly lead to the high chance of creating jobs for themselves. Another solution is that training does not only meet the demand of domestic labor market but also has to aim at foreign labor market. The problem is how to make students adapt to the integrated working environment. The key to opening the door to this integration is foreign language skills that Vietnamese students are inherently weak. As a result of lacking foreign language capability, the student will often feel unconfident and have the shortage of competition ability in the labor market. Adhering to the seven characteristics of university-oriented innovation, Vietnamese universities are suggested to pay attention to the following contents with the core of model 543: - First and foremost, training should be directed towards new skills, new occupations, new exit standards and new approaches. Training certainly supports the development of individual talents. However, in reverse, it must promote the collective entrepreneurial capacity. Therefore, the spirit of the University of Education 4.0
7. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE STARTUP AND INNOVATION NATION 121 must be reflected in the structure of the training profession; structure of each training program; each syllabus; each lecture and method of training arrangement. That is the “5 in 1” training model. - Principle researches and academic reseraches must be priority to innovation and product development. Accordingly, we need to organize more focused research programs on core technologies of Industrialization 4.0, including creative industries and cultural industries. - Setting up eco-entrepreneurship ecosystem, including the “4 in 1” knowledge transfer model, from ideas to creative research; innovation, invention, intellectual property and knowledge transfer and / or startup. In particular, business incubators, spin-off companies, social enterprises should be implemented in a uniform manner. - Building a smart university is both a method and a goal of 4.0 university. It not only supports university management and develops a smart learning environment but also provides fundamentals for training and research in digital and information science. In addition, it can help to develop startup model, digital business and model of national digital connectivity data. - Running the university autonomy in a good manner together with government agencies and enterprises (3 in 1 model), well integrating policy sources (from Government, universites and investment resources of businesses). - Internationalization of higher education is also driven to promote innovation. Previously, the degree of internationalization of a university was only appraised by international exchanges for faculty and students, the degree of internationalization of scientific staff and students. To accelerate innovative rennovation and globalization, international cooperations in research and training should aim at common products, common intellectual property values and​​ even the common market. - Harmonizing the goal of capitalizing on knowledge assets, increasing economic value of the universitíe with creating synergies for businesses and the community. In reality, innovation-oriented universities do not pursue economic goals. In fact, the objective of economic development is integrated with the goal of developing scientific knowledge, which aims to create a more practical and effective resonance value of universities for society. Developing completed, direct-to-consumer, and direct commercially-available products, and contributing to added-values of campus-wide deployments are not only a trend, but also a stepping stone for greater value autonomy universities. However, universities also have responsibility to serve communitíes- first and foremost the local communities, the region where universities operate, through various activities including the provision of human resources, cooperation of knowledge transfer, increase in community and local income. Additionally, universities and the private sector are advissed to collaborate more closely to promote innovation based on the strengths of both sides, bringing universities closer to the problems of companies, improving the output quality of universities’ research products. Undoubtedly, when mentioning collaborative effort, it is impossible not to mention the difficulties of universities’ modern management mechanism. For example, while many universities in the United Kingdom set up companies (wholly or partly owned) to invest in research, trial production, exploitation of intellectual property rights and get benefits from commercializing research results, the development of companies inside universities in Vietnam has stopped at the pilot level. Indeed, it is difficult for companies to order and collaborate without a favorable mechanism for promoting this cooperation.
8. 122 HỘI THẢO KHOA HỌC QUỐC TẾ KHỞI NGHIỆP ĐỔI MỚI SÁNG TẠO QUỐC GIA 6. CONCLUSION To sum up, it can be asserted that university which is a crucial subject for executing entrepreneurship and innovation will uphold its strengths and realize its mission effectively at the macro level. In reality, managers should identify the issue of innovation and policy innovation in universities as a vital factor for the development of a socially innovative and proactively creative society. After this recognition, universities themselves will actively enhance the internal force through the determination to change. Indeed, the creative thinking should be put into the core task. Furthermore, universities should define the output expectations explicitly through a strong and effective cooperation strategy with the private sector in business market. REFERENCES Dantri.com.vn 2017, Khởi nghiệp sinh viên - Từ khát vọng tới hiện thực, viewed 16th August 2018, . Etzkowitz H (2004), The evolution of the entrepreneurial university, Int J Technol Globalisation. Itp.edu.vn n.d, Phần 7: Kinh nghiệm thúc đẩy khởi nghiệp tại các trường đại học của Thái Lan, viewed 18th August 2018, . Khoa học phát triển 2018, Định hướng khởi nghiệp trong trường đại học của Mỹ, viewed 17th August 2018, Nguyen, H 2017, Trường đại học đóng vai trò quan trọng trong hệ sinh thái đổi mới sáng tạo, viewed 15th August 2018, . Nguyen, M 2018, Trường đại học- trung tâm của khởi nghiệp và đổi mới sáng tạo, viewed 16th August 2018, . Quy, H 2017, Đại học là nơi đào tạo sinh viên khởi nghiệp, viewed 17th August 2018, . Ta, T 2018, Doanh nghiệp khởi nghiệp sáng tạo trong trường đại học: Bắt đầu từ sự thay đổi nhận thức, viewed 16th August 2018, . Thanh nien khoi nghiep.vn 2017, Trường Đại học có vai trò gì trong hệ sinh thái khởi nghiệp?, viewed 16th August 2018, . VNU Media 2018, Xây dựng đại học định hướng đổi mới sáng tạo, viewed 15th August 2018, . Wang.Y. (2008). Marketing potential of innovative products and services in ShangHai Wedding celebration industry- The case of SPH. Savonia University of Applied Sciences. School of Business and Administration. Varkaus. Thesis work.