The Oxford Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation » Universities

The past 10 years: 2007

Afua — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:50:04 +0000

Over the next few months entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial organisations, investors, innovative business models, technologies, influential commentary, events and ideas representing key moments during the past 10 years [spanning the period of Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford's existence] shall be discussed, dissected and explored…

Procrastination ensured that I am only now recording my thoughts about ”The Cult of the Amateur: how today’s internet is killing our culture” but better late than never and coincidentally topical given one of the themes for this year’s ‘Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford’ – Schumpeter’s Creative Destruction. ‘Cult of the Amateur’ is a punchy 2007 book by journalistic commentator, Andrew Keen; it essentially represented the first bucket of cold water enthusiastically poured over the euphoria which once engulfed the world of on line social media and social networking (the recession represented the second bucket of ice cold water!)

The book was a welcome antidote to the fevered hype surrounding the very Silicon Valley invention – user generated content, it challenged the democratisation of the on line media platforms which had spurred the crowds to storm the palace gates. It criticized the unwashed masses – the ‘amateur’ musicians, journalists, literary authors and film makers, globally broadcasting their work using web technologies (to swamp the internet.)

‘…when ignorance meets egoism meets bad taste meets mob rule?’

Also explored is the web’s creative destruction of the advertising models supporting newspapers and magazines; lamenting the deceleration of the newspaper industry, Keen blames Craigslist and quotes Adam Smith. Regarding, the digital piracy-led annihilation of the music industry, Keen’s polemic or rant (depending on your perspective…) means that he forgets the giant steps of the 20th century’s music industry - the cultural revolutions of jazz, blues, soul, rock, heavy metal, punk, hip hop, house, techno - genres which challenged the middle-of-the-road anti-innovation record label bosses:

‘Say good-bye to today’s experts and cultural gatekeepers – our reporters, news anchors, editors, music companies, and Hollywood movie studios.’

Andrew rightly criticizes the unadulterated praise heaped on the ‘wisdom of crowds’ concept famously epitomised by Wikipedia, and in a later 2008 discussion at the Oxford Internet Institute he interestingly suggests that universities act as gatekeepers for on line encyclopaedic resources.

You are probably wondering about the relevance of this 2007 book in 2010 and here goes:

- Today, the AOL acquired-Bebo once the healthy posterchild of the UK web 2.0 landscape, optimistically purchased for $850M/£550 with post tax profits of £2.6M, is now due for a sell-off or closure after startling yoy financial losses of £1M and declines in traffic

- The News International acquired-Myspace is struggling against the tide. Its original CEO and founder duo are no longer with Myspace and the subsequently appointed CEO has moved on…meanwhile another Rupert Murdoch-owned media vehicle, Timesonline.com announced the introduction of paywalls for June 2010.

- Friends Reunited was subsequently sold for £25M after being purchased for £175M

- And Facebook is regularly embroiled in news stories around societal breakdown and crime

The good news is that the professional social network, LinkedIn is doing better than ever in the face of a job market downturn

The bad news is the overall absence of innovative and commercially workable business models beyond subscription paywalls for on line social media and social networks.

And, the newspaper and music industries are still in a state of flux – cheering thoughts.

Making science public: data-sharing, dissemination and public engagement with science

Barbara — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:39:20 +0000

Journals and peer-reviewed publications are still the most widely used channels through which research is disseminated within the scientific community and to a broader audience. However, social media is increasingly challenging the supremacy of editors, reviewers and science communicators. Blogging about science has become a new way of engaging “the public” directly with researchers whilst researchers are increasingly using blogs within their own academic communities for peer-review purposes. Panellists will give their perspective on how social media has changed the nature of the scientific debate amongst scientists, and how it has impacted on engagement with the public understanding of science. So, if social media offers the opportunity of unmediated exchange between scientists and the public, is this the last nail in the coffin of science journalism? Do blogs have the potential to become a respected medium for academic exchange?

Tracking the performance of the “entrepreneurial university”….

Barbara — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:13:12 +0000

The concept of the “entrepreneurial university” first emerged in the US around the year 2000 and spread quickly to the UK and the rest of Europe. Today this idea has attained an almost mantra-like status among administrators and policy-makers. It espouses the view that one of the main roles of universities is to contribute to national and regional economic development through increased spin-out activities.
Surprisingly, there are very few studies which have examined the survival and performance of university spin-offs over prolonged periods of time. Helen Lawton-Smith, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Birkbeck, London University considers this an important omission in measuring universities’ spin-out performance. Existing studies in her view are either too focused on particular sectors (i.e. biotechnology) or do not take the appropriate long term perspective. Available studies, in her view, mostly focus on those companies that have been formed since knowledge or tech-transfer institutions were instituted underestimating the longer term contribution of university spin-off activity to regional economic development.

Based on earlier work focusing on technology spin-outs in the Oxfordshire region she currently contributes to filling this identified gap through a study which analyses spin-out activity in Oxfordshire and London based institutions since 1965. Highlighting that data collection is problematic, often due to underreporting, she comes to the conclusion that the London region is similar to Oxfordshire in terms of spin-off numbers. However, Oxfordshire spin-outs employ more people and turnover is far higher (£1bn +). This raises important questions regarding the implications such long-term studies might have on government policies for the development of business ecologies. Does the London region provide an adequately supportive and networked environment to nurture university-related companies? It also remains to be seen what long-term effects business schools and other business support schemes have on the entrepreneurial “spirit” and the development of a particular region.

For further information please consult:
H. Lawton-Smith, K. Ho, Measuring the performance of Oxford University, Oxford Brookes University and the government laboratories’ spin-off companies in: Research Policy 35 (2006), pp.1554-1568

For Helen Lawton-Smith’s homepage, please click here.