Serving NZ innovation

Dr JOHN WEBSTER, CEO and President of Unitec, says tertiary bodies are important in furthering the growth of entrepreneurial activities.

The release of the Global Entrepreneurial Monitor is cause for excitement in this country. Not only is it the first time New Zealand has been included in this international survey, but it confirms New Zealanders are amongst the most innovative and entrepreneurial people in the world.

The term entrepreneurship is usually associated with business. It is widely taken for granted that an entrepreneurial culture is a virtue in the running of a business, but in certain other areas - such as education - entrepreneurship has not traditionally been viewed so positively.

In September last year, I attended an international conference on Institutional Management in Higher Education hosted by the OECD. The theme of the conference was "Beyond the Entrepreneurial University", and tertiary institutions from Australia to Azerbaijan were represented.

Professor Burton Clark, in his keynote paper at the conference, identified five key characteristics of the entrepreneurial university: a strengthened steering core; an expanded developmental periphery; a diversified funding base; a global outlook and involvement; and an integrated entrepreneurial culture. Amongst the other papers presented were several highlighting tertiary institutions in various categories that had embraced entrepreneurship.

These included major research-led universities, such as Warwick in England and Twente in the Netherlands, as well as universities of technology such as Unitec in New Zealand and Edith Cowan University in Australia. Edith Cowan has undertaken major overhauls of its internal systems and processes in recent years to establish a more entrepreneurial culture, endorsing the core values of service, professionalism, and enterprise.

Even small regional institutions can make worthwhile gains. The Institute of Technology, Tralee, Ireland, for instance, has taken a leading role in the development of an entrepreneurial culture in that region over the past 10 years. Beginning with an on-campus innovation centre in 1988, the institute developed campus companies, undertook applied research and development activities for regional companies, and supported community enterprise developments. It is now planning a new campus in cooperation with a development company, while staff and students are taking a lead in the development of a regional innovation strategy.

In Auckland, Unitec is striving to become a truly entrepreneurial organisation, exhibiting all of the key characteristics identified by Burton Clark. Since the early 90s, we have successfully pursued the strategy of developing into a 21st-century university of technology, fully committed to meeting the social, economic and technological development needs of our regional, national and international communities.

There are those who question whether entrepreneurship can be taught, and whether it has a place in our education system - either as a subject or as a corporate goal.

During the Paris IMHE Conference, many speakers chose to describe their universities as seeking to become more innovative or contemporary, rather than entrepreneurial.

In some respects, entrepreneurship can probably best be considered as a form of creativity. Nobody doubts that institutions can and should teach students to identify, develop and apply their innate creative potential, and provide them with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to support that endeavour.

And, with the pressures - financial and otherwise - that are now being imposed on our tertiary institutions, it is imperative they exhibit the characteristics they aim to develop in their students, and look elsewhere to broaden and diversify their funding bases.

But entrepreneurship is not just about money. An entrepreneur is someone committed to building something of value to themselves and to society. To engage with other cultures and enrich our own, to expand and broaden our national intellectual capabilities and to participate actively in the global community, our tertiary institutions - along with the rest of New Zealand society - must become more, rather than less, entrepreneurial.

The Gem report confirms New Zealanders are amongst the most innovative and entrepreneurial people in the world. They should rightly expect their public higher education institutions to share their excitement and commitment, and to play a full and enthusiastic role in helping New Zealand to meet the challenges of the future.

GEM Special Report