Great Entrepreneurship Ideas Must Root in Useful Service

Yesterday, I met with a group of college entrepreneurs at the 2011 Student Sandbox Demo Day, an event hosted by The Syracuse Tech Garden and Syracuse University, with the partnership of other colleges and universities in the region. Over the summer, more than 50 student entrepreneurs worked at the Tech Garden on startup ventures. In this culmination, they presented their business projects at the Pitchfest and showed off their business ideas in the Tech Innovation Demonstrations Exposition. Seventeen (17) projects were presented. It was a great and very successful event!

Many of these entrepreneurship ideas are built upon information technology, engineering, and computer science. The “core science” of these projects is certainly very important. It seems to me, however, it is the “service implications” behind the “core science” that turns human technology into great entrepreneurship ideas. To name a couple of examples: iGetMoreFit is an idea that connects a fitness sensor to a user’s iPhone so that people can monitor their workout process directly on the iPhones. The Helios Innovative Technology is an UV-C sterilization system that can safely eliminate bacteria and sterilize objects or surfaces. These projects may not make any break-through impact on science or technology; their value comes from the connections between existing technologies and the services that will benefit a group of target customers. An idea without the service component is not going to fly. Accordingly, a team with an interdisciplinary background might have some advantages over others when launching an entrepreneurship idea. Now, I can understand better why I, as a hospitality professional, am called a “domain expert” in SBP11.

In addition to technology and service, what other components are important for entrepreneurship?

References:
The picture was downloaded from the webpage of The Clean Tech Center, which is also located in The Syracuse Tech Garden.

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