Commercialization of emerging technology: The role of academic entrepreneur

Abstract

This paper explores the role of academic entrepreneur in the commercialization of emerging techno-creative innovations. The discussion is focused on nanotechnology. Universities commonly known as the source of technological innovation play an important role in transferring university-invented technology and expertise to the market. With sufficient and supportive infrastructure for technology transfer in place, academic entrepreneurs may form start-up companies and make profits based on intellectual property generated from these innovations. It is believed that for successful new technology venture, entrepreneurs should possess a combination of different skill sets to face challenges in various stages of commercialization process. Therefore, this paper reviews to what extent academic researchers are the right translators of novel science-based technology in bringing innovations from lab to market, hence the role of academic entrepreneur. Analysis is performed based on case studies and publications pertaining to learning experiences of successful technology start-ups in developed countries. Subsequent analysis suggests that entrepreneurship competencies that include risk taking and brave, knowledge, values and self-confidence are vital for successful entrepreneurs. In addition, a review on the influence of other complementary infrastructures that include university's support to academic entrepreneurs in realizing technology entrepreneurship programme is also performed in this study. Indeed, we observed that the right entrepreneurial environment and enterprise infrastructure are important contributors in empowering academic researchers to produce innovations that are both technologically feasible and commercially viable.