Attention to Exploration: The Effect of Academic Entrepreneurship on the Production of Scientific Knowledge

Open hybrid seminar with Riccardo Fini, Professor and coordinator of the phd program in management at the University of Bologna. 

Abstract:

“We study how becoming an entrepreneur affects an academic scientist’s research. We propose that entrepreneurship will shift scientists’ attention away from intra-disciplinary research questions and toward new bodies of knowledge relevant for downstream technology development. This will propel scientists to engage in exploration, meaning they work on topics new to them. In turn, this shift toward exploration will enhance the impact of the entrepreneurial scientist’s subsequent research, as concepts and models from other bodies of knowledge are combined in novel ways. Entrepreneurship leads to more impactful research, mediated by exploration. Using panel data on the full population of scientists at a large research university, we find support for this argument. Our study is novel in that it identifies a shift of attention as the mechanism underpinning the beneficial spill-over effects from founding a venture on the production of public science. A key implication of our study is that commercial work by academics can drive fundamental advances in science”.

Information on Professor Riccardo Fini

Riccardo Fini is professor and coordinator of the phd program in management at the University of Bologna. He is visiting professor at Imperial College London, Nord Business School Bode, Ghent University and Danish Technical University. He serves as director of the entrepreneurship hub and of the master in entrepreneurship at Bologna Business School. His research interests include entrepreneurship, science commercialization and impact. He is a two-time recipient of the EU Marie Curie fellowship. His work is published in the Academy of Management Journal, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Management Studies, Organization Science, Research Policy, and Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. He's serving as associate editor for the Journal of Technology Transfer and his research was featured in Il Sole24Ore, Nature, Times Higher Education and The New York Times. He's a co-founder of the science-based spin-off Fieldrobotics.”

How to participate

The seminar is open to all.
The seminar will take place in person (meeting room Landskabet) and online via Zoom: