Venture Scientists

Increasingly tech students and young professionals are pursuing ‘guerrilla’ commercialization of their research projects in universities, government labs and companies. Inspired by role models such as Bill Gates, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman etc. This Venture Scientist paradigm emphasizes having a great (tech) idea, assembling a stellar team often fellow students, building a proof of Concept (POC) or minimal viable product (MVP), and finding launch partners who love the concept. It contrasts with the traditional business school entrepreneurship model of chasing venture capital.In the 80s and 90s government collaborative research programs (e.g., US DARPA, EU HORIZON) were initiated to drive technical innovation. These collaborative programs are good at knowledge transfer between universities and corporates. However, corporates can be slow to innovate. In contrast, universities (e.g., Stanford, Cambridge) have inspired Venture Scientists to drive research impact and start-up commercialization. It’s low risk: leveraging fellow students and the institution’s resources, and often requires minimal early-stage financial support. Tech students, our principal focus, also learn valuable business skills not traditionally taught in universities.The paper argues that Venture Scientists is emerging as a major innovation paradigm and that universities and governments should institutionalize support creating vibrant enterprise ecosystems, with the huge potential of even reinvigorating national Economies. Importantly, the Venture Scientists paradigm avoids having to pick winners which is notoriously difficult (cf., let a thousand flowers bloom)