School for Entrepreneurship

Did a little bit of research into the Entrepreneurship studies and/or programs offered either by Reykjavik University or University of Iceland. The sad truth is that it does not exist. It gets a cursory treatment and I believe Universities need to adapt their curriculum to accommodate what is going on in the society. As I have written about before what Iceland needs is Entrepreneurship and a new vision, but no institution is focusing on it. I know the examples that are going to come out of nay sayers, Bill Gates dropped out of school and Steve Jobs did not finish college etc but why not use the institutions that exist to teach entrepreneurship? there maybe some of those who want to start companies that solve global problems, entrepreneurship is a skill just like computer programming or financial engineering or marketing. Actually I think entrepreneurship is a melting pot of all these those things taught in a MBA and to build teams and companies.

Brad has a post about a new course that he is planning to start in Colorado University with he title "Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Public Policy". I think it is very relevant to any startup community. Please click on the link and read the post. I plan to reach out to both the Universities in Iceland and see if they would be interested to offer this course. I would volunteer to teach it  (refer back to my previous post "If you want a great student change their role into a teacher!")

I have taken the topics and pasted here just to summarize the thinking...

1. Being an Entrepreneur. Reading: The Start-up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career (Hoffman, Casnocha). Five Minds for the Future (Gardner).

2. Leadership and What Makes a Great Founding Team. Reading: Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup:  (Cohen, Feld). Leadership Lessons From the Shackleton Expedition (Koehn).

3. Building and Scaling A Business. Reading: The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses (Ries).

4. Entrepreneurial Communities. Reading: Startup Communities: Creating A Great Entrepreneurial Ecosystem In Your City (Feld). Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity 1996 – 2010.

5. Financing Entrepreneurial Companies. Reading: Venture Deals: How To Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer(Mendelson, Feld). Improving Access to Capital for High-Growth Companies (Department of Commerce – National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship)

6. Entrepreneurial Leadership in Government. Reading: Alfred Kahn As A Case Study of A Political Entrepreneur (Weiser). Start-up Nation:  The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle (Senor and Singer).

7. Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy: Reading: Accelerating Energy Innovation: Insights from Multiple Sectors (Henderson, Newell).

Related articles

• New Course: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Public Policy (feld.com)
• Free Online Stanford Class On Tech Entrepreneurship (Begins January 2012) (forbes.com)
• 2012 Will Be the Year of the Entrepreneur (moneyland.time.com)
• Entrepreneurship Program (kaitvinson.com)
• Kauffman Symposium on Entrepreneurship and Innovation Data (kauffman.org)

Image via Wikipedia