Dive Brief:
- A new year-long report from the OECD and European Commission looking at entrepreneurship education in Ireland highlights that supporting student innovation in university is key to building out the economy and developing industry, reports University Times. Ireland, which has been touted as an international model for student entrepreneurship, was praised in the report for supporting student startups — though it still draws out recommendations for improvement.
- The report suggests that more higher education institutions support the entrepreneurial spirit by advancing more interdisciplinary research and encouraging staff to facilitate more knowledge exchange opportunities. To policymakers, the report urges they develop a framework for measuring the impact of these initiatives on society and the economy.
- Looking toward Ireland's success in having nearly double the OECD average of people working in information and communication technologies, the report suggestions institutions allow, and provide financial resources for, more on campus start up and venture creation programs for both students and alumni.
Dive Insight:
Universities are the breeding grounds for unbounded innovation and creativity, and stifling their ability to help students research and build start-ups can result in negative impacts to economic development. For instance, a decline in public funding for Midwestern research colleges and universities — responsible for most of the nation's innovative literature — has resulted in their limited ability to diversify local economies. Already, states like Illinois are seeing a Moody's downgrade in Public universities to junk-bond status. While policymakers often say they support student innovation in higher education, public funding has not kept up with the pace of inflation over the last decade —and it has rendered many institutions incapable of showcasing their top talent.
This new report out of Ireland, which has long been hailed as having the best entrepreneurship education in Europe, shows that support for student innovation, which often comes in the form of funding, is absolutely necessary for that money to eventually go back into the economy and build industry — as universities perform over half of research in the nation and in turn produce 2,600 patents and 400 companies a year, according to data from the Association of University Technology Managers. When local economies fumble, higher education institutions will only feel more of the heat, as students already struggling to pay expensive tuition may find their family's resources even more strapped. Supporting innovation and economic development therefore simultaneously requires partnerships across policy, industry, and education.