Training is the process by which researchers are triggered to learn additional skills, whereas team construction is the process by which researchers are triggered to complement their team to find additional, missing skills. The goal of training initiatives is to teach new skills to its participants in the hope that they will master them after finishing the program. The goal of team construction is to try to find a balance between technological capabilities and business expertise of the team members. The most difficult challenge within team formation is often to find the complementary business skills. www.FITT-for-Innovation.eu

1. Training & Team Construction
FITT
– Fostering Interregional Exchange in ICT Technology Transfer –
www.FITT-for-Innovation.eu
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

2. Training & Team Construction
Training is the process by which researchers are
triggered to learn additional skills
Team Construction is the process by which researchers
are triggered to complement their team to find additional,
missing skills
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3. Training & Team Construction
The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills,
and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or
practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful
competencies.
Source: Wikipedia
A training has the aim to teach new skills to its participants in the
hope that they will master these new skills after finishing the training.
Participants first acquire the new knowledge, often by listening to
lectures
Next, the participants are invited to assimilate the new knowledge by
taking part of an exercise.
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4. Training & Team Construction
The extent of the exercise can differ tremendously
Rhetorical question
The participants may be invited to think about a certain topic by means of a
rhetorical question
Small exercise
The participants may be invited to categorize certain elements e.g. using a matrix,
followed by a group discussion of this categorization in order to create a better
understanding of a particular topic
Play role
Participants are invited to act in a certain role to create a real time experience to
enhance the learning experience
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5. Training & Team Construction
The extent of the exercise can differ tremendously
Report
The participants need to write a report in which they demonstrate that they understand the
material that has been taught. In writing the report, it is important that the participants display
their interpretation of the content and the research material.
Participants may also be invited to write a business plan for their ideas.
Presentation
Participants are invited to present the report or business plan they made. This exercise helps
them to be concise and clear about the message they want to bring across.
YouTube movie
As an alternative to writing a word document, participants may be invited to make an electronic
presentation by making a movie that can be posted on YouTube
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6. Training & Team Construction
During a training, participants obtain new knowledge and are invited
to use this knowledge
To enhance the learning experience, participants are often invited to
make a presentation as this helps them to assimilate the acquired
knowledge
Feedback is provided to further stimulate the absorption of the new
knowledge
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7. Training & Team Construction
There is also a need to train TTOs as they need to create awareness among
researchers and guide them in the commercialization process.
Several studies underline that TT professionalization faces crucial obstacles
1) Lack of TT skilled people
2) No registered TT profession
3) No TT education / training programme recognised all over Europe
Based on these findings, initiatives have been developed to overcome these
barriers
1) The European project CERT-TTT-M has built up a framework to qualify TT-
Managers on a trans-national level and targets to create European Organization for
mutual recognition in Europe.
2) In UK, the AURIL (Association for University Research and Industrial Links), in
partnership with Institute of Knowledge Transfer and Proton, has developed a
framework for the Continuing Professional Development needs for Knowledge
Transfer practitioners.
Despite a clear view of needed skills, training offers are not matching all the
expectations from TTO.
Need for FITT Toolbox
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8. Training & Team Construction
Entpreneurial Bootcamp
The entrepreneurial bootcamp is an intensive personal development
program for entrepreneurial researchers.
The program is a set of focused workshops in which an entrepreneurial
multidisciplinary team is created and coached.
The primary purpose is to guide researchers who want to found their own
company starting from a concrete business idea.
The final goal is to deliver a presentation at the end of the boot camp that
can survive a professional investment board.
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9. Training & Team Construction
Entrepreneurship know-how – online academy
The Academy is an online training and education platform developed to
give access to entrepreneurs to courses and media content (specifically
created following pedagogical patterns) on business topics that could
have a fast and direct application to the day-by-day of the entrepreneur.
The main goal is always to assist entrepreneurs in acquiring business
competences and in a lesser degree to provide coaches with a powerful
and helpful tool to support their coaching activity.
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10. Training & Team Construction
Team Construction
Having a promising technology is one thing, but building a business around it
something else: Starting up a venture is no sinecure
The most difficult challenge is probably assembling the founding team
A strong management team is believed to be the key element of a successful
start-up. A team is defined as a group of people linked in a common
purpose. Teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are
interdependent and high in complexity (source: Wikipedia).
Entrepreneurial tasks – generally referred to as gestation activities – match
this description of being complex
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11. Training & Team Construction
An entrepreneurial team
is typically composed of people with different functional expertise working toward
the common goal of founding a successful company
The main benefit of a cross-functional team:
Generates synergy
Allows each member to maximize strengths & minimize weaknesses
Within a technology transfer context, generally no lack of technologically
capable people
People with market insight and business skills hard to find in labs!
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12. Training & Team Construction
1st stage: motivate researchers to join the start-up
The most obvious members of the team are the idea owners, but they
often not interested in joining a start-up team
However, the involvement of the idea owners in the start-up is crucial as
the technological know-how is stored inside their head
TTOs should try to motivate researchers to be more entrepreneurial:
cfr. Motivation & Incentives
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13. Process Issue Training & Team Construction
2nd stage: Assemble a multifunctional team
TTOs have got to assess strengths & weaknesses by looking @ education,
experience, possible previous start-up involvement …
Usually, the inventors have an engineering background with limited or no
business experience
However, the founding team should reflect a balance between
technological capabilities and business expertise
The most difficult challenge within team formation is to find the
complementary business skills
‘Entrepreneurs-in-Residence’ Program initiative
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14. Entrepreneurs-in-Residence Program
Entrepreneurs-in-Residence
Position or title typically held by an experienced entrepreneur or
business professional
Three primary functions:
• Launch a new entrepreneurial venture
• Assist in the evaluation of potential investments
• Provide functional expertise to assist with an existing investment
Ultimate goal: ensure a newly formed technology company that it has
access to the right person to manage it and take it forward
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15. Suggested Readings
Link to bibliography
Link to code book
Knowledge diffusion
Team & Network
Link to relevant websites
http://www.wikipedia.com
http://ec.europa.eu/invest-in-research/coordination/coordination01_en.htm
http://www.ttt-manager.eu
http://www.auril.org.uk
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