“Fast experimentation is the key to new venture success, helping to cut risks, lower costs and maximise revenue potential,” according to authors Prof Martin Curley, Vice President of Intel Labs and Co-founder of the Innovation Value Institute at Maynooth University, and Professor Piero Formica, Senior Research Fellow at the Innovation Value Institute, speaking at the launch of their new book ‘The Experimental Nature of New Venture Creation.’
The authors stressed the importance to the economy of high expectation entrepreneurs — those who expect to create more than 20 jobs within five years of start-up and are enabled when technology advancements meet high ambition. This class of entrepreneurs create up to 80 percent of all jobs and can especially benefit from fast experimentation to shorten time to market.
“When coupled with high experimentation entrepreneurs, fast experimentation enables the ability to test new ideas and business models in a business laboratory or experimental lab, with the significant potential to promote rapid learning and preliminary validation of a new business idea,” Prof Curley elaborated. “Ryanair are a leading example in Ireland of high expectation entrepreneurship and fast experimentation accelerating business success.”
Speaking at the book launch, Baroness Nuala O’Loan, chair of Maynooth University Governing Authority, noted that the role of the University is evolving to expand beyond education and research to include a role in wealth creation through entrepreneurship and commercialisation of research, becoming an ‘entrepreneurial university.’
Prof Philip Nolan, President of Maynooth University, said: “It is necessary to fundamentally re-evaluate the processes of innovation and entrepreneurship, and to rethink how they might best be stimulated and fostered within organisations and communities.”
Andrew Parrish, assistant director of Start-up Ireland, said: “It is time to recognise and encourage serial entrepreneurship as a viable career option in Ireland.” Parrish continued: “The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD said recently that Ireland has some great entrepreneurs but we just don’t have enough of them.”
MaynoothWorks, the University’s new business incubator is running an open clinic for early stage technology startups on Tuesday, 6th October, 2015 at 4pm.
In parallel, Intel Labs Europe will host 12 Internet of Things (IoT) start-up companies in Leixlip on October 6-7 for a Challenge Up! virtual accelerator workshop. The equivalent of the Champions League for IoT start-ups in Ireland, Challenge Up! IoT Accelerator by Intel, Cisco and Deutsche Telekom, is an international accelerator and incubation program for start-ups. Twelve new companies have been selected from more than 300 entrants to participate in the accelerated development program.